Terra And The Search for Calypso's Island
by hhallh13
Summary: A story about my OC Terra Grace and her friends on a mission to try and find Percy after he goes missing. Rated M for future language and content. Annabeth/Percy, OC/Nico. Jason/Piper. OC/Luke.
1. An Introduction

**A/N: This story is about my OC, Terra Grace. Some of the info is a little different than it is in the books, so don't get all hissy about it. A little bit of a back story for her:**

** Terra is Thalia's twin sister. She has been at Camp Half-Blood since she was 9. She came to the camp when Thalia did, brought by Grover with Annabeth and Luke. Her and Luke have been a couple since then. But, obviously, he died at the end of the Titan war. (I will probably do a story that centers around that, and some more that happen before the end of the PJO series). But now it's the world of TLH and she knows Jason is her brother and all that jazz. Terra has long black hair and the same blue eyes as her sister and the same fighting spirit though they are not alike with their personalities. Terra has a bracelet she wears on her right wrist. When she touches one of the charms a sword appears in her right hand. (It is supposed to be a match with Thalia's shield, but since there are two of them, they split the gifts from their father). It has been a year since Luke died and Terra has been having dreams that he is still alive. That's basically all you need to know… Oh, and she is 19 years old. **

The sun was streaming through the windows of cabin one and making the whole bedroom way too bright for the two kids to stay asleep. Terra rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head.

"Someone tell Apollo to shut of the damn sun." She mumbled into her blanket. The boy on the other side of the room sat up and yawned, stretching is arms and scratching his blonde hair.

"Yeah, somehow I don't think he would go for that." Jason replied. Jason was Terra's brother, not just by their godly parent, Zeus…but by their mortal mother as well. They had only found this out a couple months ago but they were already used to sharing the cabin and they acted as though they had been living like this their whole lives. Jason and his two friends Piper and Leo were 4 years younger than Terra but since she was with them on their first ever mission to save Hera, they were all friends. Percy is still missing and Annabeth is currently out searching for him, so she has been spending a lot of time with the three new kids.

"You're probably right." Terra groaned and pulled herself out of bed. She loved the fact that Chiron got them beds rather than having the two of them sleep in sleeping bags on the floor forever. Terra hadn't cared so much before, but she decided since there were two of them living there now, with the occasional visit from Thalia, they needed some actual beds.

"So what are you up to today?" Jason asked as he pulled himself out of bed and headed behind a curtain on his side of the room. He grabbed an orange camp half-blood t-shirt and a pair of jeans before heading back there to get changed.

"Nico is visiting today. He has to talk to Chiron about something, though he won't tell me what."

"Ohhh. So I shouldn't expect you back tonight?" Jason laughed behind the curtain.

"Excuse me Mr.?" Terra exclaimed. But she blushed all the same. Jason came out from behind the curtain in the process of pulling his shirt over his head.

"Oh come on. Every time he visits you guys either stay out really late or you guys shadow travel somewhere for the night. You can't deny it." He winked at his sister while she gathered some clothes to wear.

"Fine…I admit it; we do spend a lot of time elsewhere when he visits. But it is because he doesn't visit often. He is always running errands for Hades. Or he is helping Annabeth search for Percy. The only reason I don't go with them to search is because Chiron put me in charge of helping you, Piper, and Leo with your new quests and what not. So until you figure out why your past is significant to this upcoming war, I am stuck with you." She made a disgusted face because disappearing behind the curtain on her own side of the room.

"Well fine then." Jason said sarcastically. "But hey I have a question."

"Shoot" She replied from behind the curtain.

"How come Chiron lets you and Nico go wherever you want but I have to stay at camp?"

Terra came out from behind the curtain wearing jeans and a black tank top. She grabbed a pair of strappy brown sandals and sat on her bed to put them on. "It's because you're important for this next war. We all know it. And besides, I am 19 years old, Jason. Asking me to stay here all the time would be dumb. I am an adult and can make my own decisions. Most demi-gods leave camp by age 18 and try to live a normal life. But since camp life is really all I have ever known, I don't care much for trying to live a normal life. All my friends are here, there is no point in leaving. Chiron knows this and he also knows that Nico and I can take care of ourselves. Nico turns 17 in a couple weeks anyway. To sum it all up: I have more experience, I am older, and Chiron trusts me more." She smiled at her brother who flipped her his middle finger. She laughed a little at his choice of responses.

"Well, I wanted to take Piper somewhere. But I guess I can't." He looked grumpy.

"This is your one month anniversary right?"

"Yeah. I wanted to do something special."

"I could give you some ideas about cool things you could do here? Or maybe I can talk Chiron into letting you and Piper take Blackjack and Eris to a beach somewhere?"

"Who are Blackjack and Eris?" He asked, looking puzzled.

"Blackjack is Percy's Pegasus. He saved Blackjack when Kronos' army captured him and was holding the Pegasus on the Princess Andromeda; his ship. And I got Eris from our father. She was sent as a gift when I was trapped by Kronos' army a couple years ago. Luke had been protecting me, keeping his soldiers from killing me, but he had to go somewhere, and long story short, they tried to feed me to a dragon. Eris is also a Pegasus. Both of them are black. You can tell them apart because mine, Eris, has a lightning bolt shaped white mark on her hindquarters."

"Her butt." Jason added.

"Yes, yes, her butt. And you should be able to speak to them."

"Wait…I can talk to a Pegasus?"

"Yeah, children of Zeus and Poseidon can talk to them because Poseidon made horses and Zeus added the wings." She explained.

"Weird…but awesome." He ran a comb through his short, spiky blonde hair. "So what is the likelihood that Chiron will let me take them?"

"Honestly? Slim. But I can try my best to convince him. Or you could pull a Percy and just take off from camp whenever you want. Keeping in mind, of course, that whenever Percy left he always got into near death experiences."

"Nice. Thanks for the bright note." He smiled at her, even though he was frustrated. He had survived on his own for years, or so he thought. "Why won't Chiron trust me?"

"Jason, please. It isn't that he doesn't trust you, per-say. He just doesn't want you to get hurt. You guys have only been at camp for about 2 and a half months. You can't expect to have all the experience you need to survive out there. Scratch that, you have experience that you can't remember getting. But Piper and Leo do not and it is their lives Chiron is worried about. The three of you are very important to this next war. Rachel has made the prophecy more than once now and he wants to make sure that the three of you remain safe."

"Which is why he put you in charge of keeping an eye on us."

"Only when you leave to go on missions."

"Well this won't be a mission; it will be one night to somewhere secluded."

"Think of it from his point of view though. I am not trying to put you down or make you feel bad, I am just playing the Hades Advocate here. During the last Titan war me, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover would be in very highly populated areas. The Hoover Dam for example. And we would be attacked. So he would be more worried if you said you were going alone." She sighed, still only halfway through putting on her first shoe. "Don't tell Chiron I told you this, but you should just go. Let Leo know where you are going however, in case something happens and we need to get to you. Alright?" He ran over and hugged his sister.

"You're the best."

"Don't tell Thalia you said that." She winked at him. He turned to head out of the cabin but she called out "the stables for the Pegasus are down past the Big House in the meadows!" And he was gone. "Be safe." She added to herself. She spent the next 15 minutes brushing her hair out so it didn't stand 3 feet off her head and put on some eyeliner and mascara. Hey, even demi-gods gotta look good times, right? After she was done she looked like her usually gorgeous self. She didn't have that other-worldly beauty that the children of Aphrodite had, or even Annabeth had. But there was something about her that made people stare. Maybe it was her long, dark hair that reaches halfway down her back, with natural waves that aren't quite curls. Or maybe it's the slightly tanned skin with the shockingly light blue eyes. Or perhaps it is the way she carries herself, knowing she is powerful but acting like she is no better than anyone else.

You see, as a daughter of Zeus, she has the power to manipulate the air the way Jason can. She hadn't known about this power, however, until she saw Jason do it. And then she only found out she had it when she fell of Festus during their first quest together. She had managed to catch herself right before she hit the ground. Jason was lucky, he was not a twin and therefore got both the ability to control air and summon lightning. Thalia and Terra, being twins, split almost everything; from the sword and shield Zeus had left with their mother, thinking there would only be one of them, to their powers: each of them getting one of the two powers that were unique to children of Zeus.

But the ability to propel yourself into a flip high enough to go over a giant when most demi-gods could barely flip over a Minotaur, was amazing in itself. So Terra wasn't too sad when she found out she couldn't control lightning when her other two siblings could. But hey, when they were falling off of a mountain or something…Terra was the lucky one. Being a child of one of the big three also meant that, along with these unique powers, came the common ones: faster, stronger, more agile, and better ADHD than most demi-gods. So her, her siblings, Nico, and Percy all had enhanced abilities. Not to say that made them particularly better than anyone else, but it did give them the upper hand.

Despite the fact that everyone knew this about them, the children of the big three that lived at camp half-blood never acted like they were better than anyone else. They assumed their roles as leaders but treated everyone equally. This is why they are so respected at the camp.

Terra looked herself over in the mirror. She ran a hand over tank top, smoothing it out. Her hand stopped about four inches above her belly button. She lifted her shirt a little so she could examine the scar that had been left when Kronos stabbed her over a year ago. Will Solace, from cabin 7, the Apollo cabin, had told her that the scar would never fully heal. She had been stabbed with a weapon that was made to kill humans as well as demi-gods and mythical monsters. Because of this, Terra would have a very unique wound and the scar would never go away, no matter how much Nectar or Ambrosia she consumed. Fortunately, she didn't mind the scar. It reminded her that she had saved the world, brought Luke back, and was able to prove to him one last time how much she loved him. Her fingers ran over the horizontal scar one more time before she pulled her shirt down and made her way out of the cabin.


	2. A little prank on the Pretty People

Terra left cabin 1, making her way towards the Ares cabin. She had to do something otherwise she would be lazy all day waiting for Nico to get there. It was Sunday and usually the campers didn't train on Sundays. But here Terra was, knocking on cabin 5's door. A short girl with red hair answered.

"Well, hello there airhead. What are you doing here so early?" Clarisse answered.

"First off, it isn't early, it's 8am. And two, don't call me airhead." Terra answered. "Wanna go train or something?"

"Ah, you must be waiting for Nico." Clarisse smirked at her friend. Terra was one of the few people at camp that could put up with Clarisse's attitude and not fight with her twenty four-seven.

"Pft. How can everyone read me so well?"

"You always do this when he visits. You have to go fight someone at the training fields because if you don't train or fight or do something you wander around camp aimlessly waiting for him to arrive. You do it every single time that little emo comes to visit. Speaking of" she said, looking Terra over. "You look kind of emo today."

"I just didn't feel like wearing the orange camp shirt today is all."

"Well it looks good on you, you don't look like you need more sunshine, anyway." Clarisse suddenly disappeared into her cabin and reappeared with her new spear which was a remake of her original electricity shooting spear that Percy had broken. "Let's go fight."

They walked out to the training fields, saying good morning to everyone they passed. They had even stopped so Terra could ask Leo if her brother had left with Piper yet and to make sure he knew where they were going. They spent the next two hours at the training fields, going over some new strategies and teaching each other some new moves. When they were done they split up, heading back to their perspective cabins to take a shower and get cleaned up. Soon enough Terra was leaving her cabin again wearing a new pair of jeans and a light blue tank-top that brought out her eyes. Now she really had nothing to do, she couldn't spend her whole day training and it was nearly 11. Nico told her he wouldn't get to camp till 3 at the earliest.

She let out a long sigh. "I wish there was something to do!"

"Wanna help us with something?" Asked a familiar voice. She turned around to find the brothers Travis and Connor Stoll coming up to her carrying boxes in their arms.

"Let me guess…pranking someone?" She said, eyeing what they were holding. Travis laughed.

"Pranking the entire Aphrodite cabin is more like it" Connor answered, smiling a big goofy grin which his brother mimicked. "What are you up to?"

"Waiting for Nico to get here."

"Hot date, huh?" Travis asked.

"She goes on hot dates with the son of Hades, all gloomy and what not, but she won't go on a hot date with me…how rude." Connor shook his head in disapproval.

"That's because last time we hung out just the two of us I ended up covered in purple slime and to this day you won't tell me what it was…" Terra replied, placing her hands on her hips and making an annoyed face.

"Well…that's how I let people know I like them, right Travis?"

"Yeah, every girl he likes gets covered in purple slime at some point. It's a tradition." The two boys cracked up and Terra smiled.

"Good to know I'm not the only one. So what's in the box?"

"Spiders, ants, caterpillars, centipedes-"

"All varieties of creepy crawlies." Connor said, keeping Travis from listing off every single type of insect and gross thing they had in the boxes.

"What did you do, hunt for these all night?"

"For the past week." Travis grinned. "Wanna help us put them in the Aphrodite cabin and watch them freak out?"

"Naw, I think I shouldn't. Chiron expects me to be all…mature and what not."

"LAMMEEEEE" Both brothers said in unison. "Come have some fun with us!" Connor added. Terra stood there thinking for a second.

"Okay, I have nothing to do anyway." Travis handed her one of the two boxes he was holding. She felt it shifting in her arms. "Uh- are there snakes in this one?"

"You're not afraid of them are you? I can give you the box of spiders if you want?" Travis offered.

"Uh-no, I think I will stick with the snakes, thanks though." She shifted the box in her arms to get a better grip on the shaking box.

A few minutes later they were in the bushed underneath the side windows of the Aphrodite cabin. It was bright pink and sickening to look at. Piper desperately wanted to have it painted a different color, but she hadn't been able to convince anyone else in the cabin to help her paint it and she didn't want to do it alone. Travis and Connor got the boxes ready. They opened up the set of windows we were beneath and peaked in.

"Still asleep, the bums." Connor commented.

"They need their _beauty_ sleep." Travis said, emphasizing the word 'beauty' with a girly flip of his imaginary long hair. Terra giggled and handed Connor her snake box.

"So, just throw them in and wait for the screams to commence?" She asked the two boys.

"Yeah, basically. It is gonna be a blast! Lucky for us, it's Drew's bed that these windows are above." Connor gave Terra a sinister grin.

"If it is Drew then we should dump the spiders on her and try to throw everything else over her. She _HATES_ spiders." Terra replied, returning Connor's evil grin. "I do feel bad about Piper though. She won't care so much about the bugs, but she hates snakes, and she is the one who is gonna have to deal with getting all these things out of the cabin."

"True, true. But if you are so concerned you can help her clean up after." Travis offered.

"Maybe you two should help out?"

"Naw, that would defeat the purpose of a prank like this."

"Not that they won't be able to guess it was you" Terra shot back.

"Not in a million years. Now let's do this before one of them decides to get out of bed." Travis said, lifting the box of creepy-crawlies over his head to the window. He tried to toss most of them over Drew. He succeeded for the most part, the snakes were next. Most of them made it over her bed as well, except for one, but somehow Drew hadn't felt the snake land on her chest. Then Connor stood up, ready to drop the spiders in. Unfortunately, one of the younger girls in the cabin had got out of bed to go to the bathroom and stepped on a centipede. She screamed…very loudly. Connor threw the whole box of spiders onto the sleeping Drew and we ran.

"Why couldn't that little beauty queen hold it for 5 more minutes?" Travis yelled as we ran into the trees across from the cabin. We each dodged behind one, taking cover from the Aphrodite kids that were now running out the front door of the cabin, screaming, flailing and jumping around as if they were being attacked by a swarm of bees.

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Piper was yelling from inside the cabin. A couple kids walked abnormally slowly out of the cabin though their faces were mortified. Piper's words kept them from freaking out too much. And then Piper came storming out of the cabin. "TRAVIS! CONNOR! I KNOW YOU'R OUT HERE SOMEWHERE!"

"Busted." Travis said before peeking out from behind his tree. "Yo." He said to Piper as she spotted him and came stomping over to the line of trees.

"You better get in there and get those stupid little bugs out of my cabin before I MAKE you do it!" She turned and saw Terra who gave her an embarrassed wave and a smile. "You too?" Piper looked disappointed but these three were 4 years her seniors and had much more pull at the camp than she did. Not to mention more fighting ability and experience. What could she really do except hope they would feel bad and help her. She couldn't force them to do anything. "Well, haha, funny joke. Can you please get them out of the cabin? My charmspeak doesn't work on animals. Especially disgusting bugs and snakes."

Connor and Travis looked at each other then at Terra. "It was her idea!" They said in unison. Terra started cracking up and Piper crossed her arms.

"I wasn't born yesterday." Piper said.

"I'll help get them out. I feel bad that I fell into their horrible plan."

Both boys let out shocked gasps. "WE HAVE GREAT PLANS!" Travis shouted.

"Well whether or not you do is not important at the moment, what is important is that you get in there and help me get those bugs out. We got Drew good, but we can't leave Piper to clean it up alone."

"Fine, but only if you gimme a little peck on the check" Connor said, turning his face to the left and tapping his cheek. Terra walked over and gave him a quick little kiss, holding his face to the side because she knew if she didn't he would try to turn and kiss her lips instead.

"Now what are we going to do?" Terra asked.

"Clean the Aphrodite cabin…" The brothers droned.

Luckily it didn't take more than 25 minutes since Terra used to ability to manipulate the air to push the critters out of the corners. It took longer only because they had to try to keep the spiders and snakes from coming back in since outside was dangerous with all the screaming Aphrodite kids running around. After they were done Piper thanked Terra for being responsible and helping her out. Travis and Connor went back to the Hermes cabin to work up some more pranks to pull on people and Terra was, once again, left with nothing to do. Only another hour had passed. Still at least four more until Nico would get there.

"Why is this day going so fricken slow?" She shouted as she made her way towards the Big House. Maybe Rachel would want to hang out…


	3. Redheads and Red Wine

A/N: Trying out a chapter in first person. I don't know if I will continue like this or not. So bear with me.

I walked up the front steps and opened the front door to the big house. I heard Chiron discussing something with Dionysus in one of the rooms; I walked as quickly as I could past the open door. There is no way I want to get caught in an argument between them. Dionysus has a way of threatening to turn you into some obscure animal if you don't agree with him. It is trouble. So I walked right by it and up the staircase to the second floor. I turned to the right taking the very familiar path to Rachel Elizabeth Dare's room. Her room is the third on the left and oh my god you would never believe it.

If you know anything about my friend Rachel you know that pink is NOT her favorite color. But that is the color of her room…in every aspect possible. Apparently the room was designed by a daughter of Dionysus who lived in the big house back when he only had one child. I guess the god of wine had challenged Chiron to a game of cards or something and if he won his daughter could live in the big house (he didn't trust the boys of the other cabins). Chiron decided he wanted endless amounts of grapes or something…he lost. And so the nightmare began: The bed sheets are light pink, the walls are a vibrant reddish-pink, the lamps are white with pink lampshades, the curtains are a very light pink, the ceiling and carpets are the same ugly orangey-pink, the light bulbs are red, and even the glass on the windows are tinted pink. Trust me though, none of this was Rachel's doing. She had been in the room for about a year now and still hadn't gotten around to fixing it, despite my constant offers to help. I even asked if I could do it for her because I couldn't stand walking into the room to see her and having my eyes be gauged out of my head by her pink nightmarish bedroom. But she always refuses; she says she has more important things to do. I guess she is right.

I knocked on the door. "Yo, Rachel…You in there?"

"One moment please!" I heard scuffling and things being moved around and finally the door opened revealing a girl slightly shorter than myself. She has the craziest red hair you can imagine and freckles galore. She looks slightly crazy because she is beautiful but she dresses like a hippie. Her dad is rich though…I guess that's why she dresses the way she does. She doesn't want to appear rich. She hates it when people talk about her famous dad. I don't know much about him because I don't care. I don't know much about anyone's mortal parents because, frankly, it doesn't matter. But I think Mr. Dare is in politics….or something like that. I don't know. I know Piper's dad is a famous actor and rather good looking, but I only know that because part of our first mission was to rescue him. "Hey, Terra…what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for Nico. I still have till 3." I made a dramatic gesture, drooping my eyes and hunching over like I was the most bored person in the world. "I have nothing to do. Play with me?" I asked, perking up.

"I-can't." She responded, glancing back into her room. I couldn't see what she was looking at because she hadn't completely opened the door.

"Don't make me ask you what you're hiding from me Rachel."

"Um…I have a friend here." She blushed a little bit and wouldn't meet my eyes. I didn't want to push anything. I figure if she doesn't want to tell me something then that's her prerogative.

"Alrighty then. I guess I'll see you later then?" I started to walk away, trying to get a glance into the room through the crack in the door but she knew I would do that and blocked the crack with her body.

"Yeah, I'll see you later. And sorry, I hope you find something to do till he gets here! Don't worry, it is only 3 more hours!" Then she closed the door and I was left alone in the hallway. I checked the time on a clock that was hanging on the wall.

"11:23" I said aloud. "That is not 3 hours Rachel Dare." I muttered and headed back downstairs. I had completely forgot that Chiron and Dionysus were fighting over something and absent mindedly walked right by the doorway, a little too slowly.

"HEY YOU THERE!" I heard the god of wine yell. 'shit' I thought to myself. I turned to face them, standing in the doorway. "Come in here, I need you to prove a point to the horse here." He gave Chiron the hairy eyeball and motioned for me to sit next to him.

I headed into the room but did not go anywhere near the seat next to Dionysus. I stood next to Chiron instead. "What can I help you with?" He noticed my obvious lack of a desire to sit with him and 'hmphed'

"Tell this old horse's ass that the Percy boy is probably in line with the enemy. That explains why he cant be found or contacted, he doesn't want to be fou-"

"No." I interrupted. I realized right away that it was stupid to be so rude to the god of obnoxious behavior but still. I refuse to stand by whilst any god questions the morality of one of my best friends.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no. I will not take your side on this because you are wrong. Something happened to Percy but I know it wasn't that he betrayed us."

"Says the girl whose own boyfriend betrayed everyone six years ago…he almost destroyed you and the whole world. What makes you think you know this boy better than the one you loved?"

He had a point. I hate that when it happens. So I shrugged. "I just know."

"Alright, thank you Terra, you may leave." Chiron said, glaring at Dionysus and daring him to oppose the offer to leave. I turned my back to the god and mouthed a 'thank you' to Chiron who winked in return. "Oh and Terra."

"Yes?"

"Were you looking for something in the big house?"

"Good service maybe? I asked that stupid nymph to get me a tray of cookies an hour ago!" Dionysus complained.

"Uh-no…I was just seeing if Rachel wanted to hang out till Nico gets here."

"Going on another date with your boyfriend? Aren't you the one who insists your other traitor boyfriend is still alive? Such a strange girl, never knowing what you want." I fought the urge to turn and challenge the god to a fight. I knew that, although I could beat him in a fair fight, I would never get a chance at one because Dionysus plays dirtier than anyone I know. And so I took a deep breath to steady myself.

"He is not my boyfriend and I am not going on a date with him. We take trips to just get away from monsters and gods and training." I said without turning to face him.

"Well, have fun dear. And, as always, be careful." Chiron said again, giving me a kind smile. I couldn't help but smile back before I walked out into the fresh air.

"Why is this day taking so freaking long?" I growled before kicking the dirt and collapsing onto the stairs.


	4. A Revealation and A New Quest

"Hey, what are you doing sitting out here?" It was Annabeth, I knew that long, beautiful, blonde hair anywhere. I jumped up and hugged her. She had been gone for almost a month and I missed her so much.

"How are you? How did it go? Any word on Percy? Where did you check? Are the gods still not helping? Are there any leads?" I took a deep breath and Annabeth laughed.

"Still the same old Terra. I'm fine, the search was uneventful and yielded no clues or anything so we still have no idea where Percy is or how to find him." She sighed and it appeared as though the light had left her eyes. I hugged her again.

"We will find him." She nodded solemnly. "Anyway, what are you at the big house for?"

"Oh I was here earlier this morning, I had to talk to Rachel but she was talking with Nico so I said I would come back. I went to find you but I didn't know where-"

"Wait what?"

"I was looking for you but I didn't-"

"No not that." My eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as I played back what she said. "You said Rachel was with Nico?"

"Yeah, she said she was busy with Nico and would be for a while." She looked confused as to why I was making a big deal out of it, Rachel and Nico were friends, just like a lot of people at camp, it shouldn't be weird for them to be hanging out. But it was when they were both lying to me.

"Do you know what they were doing?"

"Nope. She just said they had stuff to do and to come back in a couple hours. That was 2 hours ago."

"Well, apparently she is still with him."

"Is everything okay? You look really…torn." She placed her hand on my shoulder and looked kindly into my eyes and smiled. Her smile was contagious because it shone from such a beautiful face.

"I'm fine." I smiled, trying to throw her off. "I missed you though. I hope I can go next time we go searching for Percy. I had to stay behind this time to help my brother, Leo, and Piper but we didn't even get another quest while you were gone. Is Butch back too?"

"No, he is still searching, I am gonna meet up with him in a couple days. I am hoping to recruit some more campers to help out. We have a ton already but we need more." She sighed again and I could see how hard she was trying to stay strong.

"I bet Percy is trying just as hard to get back to us as we are to get to him" I said in an attempt to make her feel better and throw her off from being concerned for me. She nodded in agreement because this, if anything, was true. We all know how much Percy loves Annabeth and camp and his friends and his mom, there is no way he would get kidnapped or run away or anything without trying to get back.

"Well there was a couple years ago when he ended up on Calypso's Island after he blasted himself out of that mountain." Annabeth said, half laughing at the memory. "And we all thought he was dead…missing for 6 weeks and all." I froze, my eyes went wide and I completely blanked. "You alright? Terra!" Annabeth shook me back to reality; I saw her face come into focus. I was sitting on the steps again.

"Annabeth…" I muttered, still staring off into the distance. She asked me what I was trying to say and I continued. "The island!" I shouted, suddenly coming completely back to reality.

"What about it?" She asked, shocked by my sudden outburst. '

"Has anyone checked there?" I grabbed her shoulders, suddenly this became very urgent.

"Uh…no we don't know how to get there…Terra, do you think he could have somehow ended up there again?" She thought it over for a second. "You know, that isn't too farfetched, I mean the whole going back there in just a couple short years when most demi-gods never even go there once is farfetched, but otherwise… it makes sense." She ran a hand through her hair which was down for once. "But even if he might be there, we still have no idea how to get there, the island is constantly in different places and the gods purposefully hide it from being found."

"I think I know a god that might help."

"Who?" Annabeth asked.

"Hermes. Not only does he know where everything is, but he thinks of me as a daughter, he even told me so after Luke died, he had mentioned how he hoped me and Luke would get married…" I trailed off, trying not to get upset. "Anyway, if anyone will help us, it would be him."

"Perfect, now we just have to figure out how to get to him since your father, so conveniently closed Olympus." She said sarcastically.

"Good point…" We both sat in silence for a few minutes, pondering what we could do. "Well, why don't we ask Rachel? She might have an idea."

"Sounds good to me. But oh wait…isn't she still with Nico?" I cringed, forgetting that they were up there and I didn't know why.

"Right…how about Chiron then?" Annabeth suggested. She held out her hand, helping me to my feet. "Shall we?" I nodded and we entered into the big house. I didn't hear anything from upstairs, but Rachel and Nico could have just been being very quiet.

We walked into the main hallway right up to the doorway of the room Chiron and Dionysus were in. It appeared as though the fighting had stopped because they were now discussing how the décor of the room needed to be filled with more food. I didn't understand that fight, but whatever.

"Chiron." Annabeth said as she walked into the room. He stood up, pulling his horse parts out of the wheelchair, and smiling at Annabeth.

"Hello, my dear, how was your journey?"

"It was long, and didn't give us any new information." She hesitated. He hugged her and turned to me.

"Weren't you just here?" He asked me.

"Yep, and I am back." I smiled. Dionysus scoffed in the corner apparently not very pleased to see me again so soon.

"Well that's quite alright." He responded. "Now what is it you need to talk about?" Chiron said, encouraging us to continue on with what we were here for.

"Terra thinks that Percy might be on Calypso's island…again." Annabeth said while trying to contain her excitement at having any kind of lead to follow. Chiron didn't look completely convinced and Dionysus couldn't care less.

"Well, I suppose it is worth a try." Chiron finally said.

"Except for the small fact that no one can find it." Dionysus chimed in. He was currently rubbing his fat stomach, probably thinking about what he would eat for dinner tonight.

"I already thought of that." I retorted. The god of wine flashed me the hairy eyeball and I ignored him, continuing on with what I was saying. "I think Hermes would be willing to help us. If anyone besides my father knows where her island is it would be him. And he doesn't seem to like me quite a bit"

"The question is whether or not he likes you enough to disobey the big guy, Zeus…your father." Dionysus added, fiddling with an empty grape vine. It was slowly growing new grapes and he was slowly pulling them off and eating them at various stages of their growth. I, once again, ignored his comment.

"We were wondering if you know a way to get into contact with Hermes since my father closed off Olympus." I asked Chiron.

"Well…there is a place where he often visits, it is said that if you go there and speak into a fountain there that Hermes will hear you and respond, if not come there. It is his birthplace on Mount Cylene in Arcadia. I don't know the exact location on the mountain but it is said that it is guarded by a giant serpent. It is a basilisk…I don't know if that deters you from wanting to go."

"Not really, any lead to Percy will help. I can Iris Butch and he can come with us." Annabeth said. "At least that's one more person to help us out."

"And I am sure Nico would want to come too." I added. 'If he ever gets out of Rachel's room' I thought to myself.

"Well, if you insist on going I won't be able to stop you." Chiron sighed. "You can leave tomorrow morning. Take the night to rest up and prepare. I am certain the journey to Calypso's Island will not be an easy one."

"We have probably had worse." I said, giving a lighthearted smirk. Everyone nodded solemnly, even Dionysus.

"So should we see Rachel and get a prophecy?" Annabeth asked.

"I suppose you should." Chiron put himself back into his wheelchair and turned back to the table where a game of checkers was set up. "You can head up to her room if you wish." And with that the two immortals set about a heated game of checkers.

Annabeth and I made our way up the stairs, against my better judgment. I could only imagine what they were doing in that room…I didn't want to know. Well that's a lie, I really wanted to know but I had a feeling I would wish I hadn't known afterwards. I tend to make little to no sense most of the time…

Annabeth knocked on the door. "Rachel? I know you said to come back later, but I need a prophecy from you." She turned to me. "Did that sound rude?" I shrugged, and then nodded. We both laughed. "Oops," she said.

The door opened, fully this time and Rachel gestured for us to come in, seemingly a bit shocked to see me with Annabeth. "Sorry about earlier, I was just busy with something, I hope I didn't upset you or anything, Terra because I really didn't mean to." She was apologizing a little too profusely, which didn't help with the fact that I already thought she was up to something. But I shrugged.

"Its fine, it gave me and Annabeth an opportunity to talk and figure out a lead to find Percy. Not saying it will work, but it is something new to try." I moved to sit on Rachel's disgustingly pink and fluffy bed.

"So what it is?" Rachel asked, taking a seat on the window sill. Annabeth stayed standing.

"We think Percy might have ended up on Calypso's island again."

"Annabeth…come on now. The likely-hood of that happening twice to someone…" Rachel stopped talking once she saw the look on both of our faces. We did not want to be told it was stupid to search for our friend. "Okay okay. So you need a prophecy for your mission, is that it?"

"Yep, that sums it up good." I answered.

"Okay, well give me a second." Rachel pulled a pillow off her bed and threw it on the floor. She then sat, Indian style, on top of it. Annabeth and I knew the drill: stay completely quiet until the Oracle was done speaking and then try not to let Rachel hurt herself when she fell unconscious. Green smoke began billowing around Rachel in a clockwise motion while strange noises started omitting themselves from Rachel's throat. And then her eyes flew open, glowing green:

"Trust the liar to find the truth

Amidst the dark you will find the lost youth

Beware the eyes and beak

The imitations of what voices speak

Lost and found and lost again

Untold sorrow and pain" And then she collapsed sideways into Annabeth's waiting arms. Rachel was out cold so I got up and helped Annabeth move her to the bed.

"So…this mission sounds super fun." I joked as we pulled the covers over the redheaded Oracle.

"Yeah, I don't get most of it though." The blonde headed daughter of Athena stated. I scoffed at her.

"The fact that you even get a bit of it confounds me."

"Well the 'amidst the dark you will find the lost youth' is, hopefully, referring to Percy. When she said 'Beware the eyes' she was probably talking about the Basilisk that guards Hermes' fountain. And the 'lost and found and lost again' probably means Percy too….which sucks." She collapsed onto the side of the bed, obviously frustrated.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You never understand these things until the moment that they are even remotely relevant, or afterwards…usually after." I cracked a smile and Annabeth let a small smile creep into the corner of her mouth.

"You're right; I shouldn't sit here trying to figure it out. What I should be doing is Irising Butch so he will come back to camp for tomorrow. You should go find Nico and see if he is willing to help us."

"Yeah…" I turned away from her and headed towards the door. "I'll go see if he is here yet, it's almost 3 anyway." I closed the door to Rachel's room behind me and headed down the staircase. 'Yeah, I totally want Nico on this mission with me' I said to myself sarcastically. "What could be more helpful or fun than someone who lies to you about who he is with?"

"I don't know what?" Nico was right in front of me at the bottom of the steps. It appeared as though he had just come out of the room that Chiron and Dionysus were in, but somehow I feel like that's just a ruse.

"Did I say that out loud? Silly me…" I said, playing it like nothing was wrong. "So, while I have you here, I have something to ask." He looked nervous, or what that just an illusion? Now he looked perfectly normal. I hate not being able to read him all the time.

"What do you need?" He said, completely calm and normal, even with a hint of a smile.

"How would you like to go on a quest with me, Annabeth, and Butch to try to find Calypso's island and face certain death and what not? Like the good old days?"

"I was hoping I would be asked to go on one soon." He smiled and we headed outside so I could explain the mission to him.


	5. When Percy Met Terra: A FLASHBACK

**A/N: This story is a flashback to when Terra first met Percy. This is when Percy is 11 and Terra is 13. She has been at Camp Half Blood for 5 years now and has not been on a quest. This is the story of Percy finding out about who he is and meeting his first friends in the world of demi-gods, monsters, and ancient gods. The story might not exactly follow what happens in the book. Obviously I have to change some things to fit my character in here. So once again: if you do not like OC stories then don't read this because it's annoying to get rude messages from people. Thanks and enjoy!**

"You really shouldn't disobey Chiron." Luke Castellan said as he wipes the monster blood of his sword. "You know damn well he is going to be angry with you if you leave camp without his permission." I laughed at him, pushing my dark hair behind my ear and readjusting my chest plate.

"Honestly, Luke, if Chiron didn't want me to leave he would have said 'Terra I don't want you to leave camp' but all he said was he didn't want me on the mission to watch over that new demi-god at Yancy." I throw him one of my signature 'you know you can't fight me on this' smiles and he caved.

"You obviously aren't going to give up on going, so fine, go. But you have to promise me to keep me updated VIA iris message, okay? If you need any help or run into any trouble or anyone is rude to you, let me know and I will come and beat the shit out of them."

"Luke, darling" I emphasized the 'darling' a little too much, trying to make him laugh, but he didn't, "you don't have to worry. In case you weren't paying attention, I am the one who just defeated that giant scorpion, thank you very much." He whole heartedly laughed at me.

"Then what was all that blood on my sword?" His light blue eyes flashed in the light that shone through the trees above us and I had to struggle not to sigh lovingly. Those eyes got me every time I was mad at him or any time he got into trouble and needed my help, which happened a lot. With those beautiful eyes of his, Luke Castellan could do anything.

"Please! You know it was all me, admit it." I pushed him backwards playfully.

"Oh you asked for it now" He gave me a smirk and then charged me, picking me up and swinging me around. When he finally put me down after nearly tickling me to death, he kissed me on the forehead and whispered "I love you" in my ear.

Okay, Luke and I have been dating for the past 2 years, since I was 11. He is two years older than me, but when it comes to demi-gods age doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because of the fact that at any moment you could die. Whether it is on the lava wall, in the sparing ring, or on a quest, there is always a chance that every day could be your last. Because of this we, all the demi-gods, tend to really live in the moment and take chances most people might not take. Our motto is "Do it now because you will probably be dead tomorrow". Great motto, I know, but it gets the job done in terms of keeping us from being too shy to live our lives fully. But Luke has been the best boyfriend I could have ever asked for. He is sweet, protective but not to the point where I cant have guy friends, loving, and makes friends with everyone. Not to mention he saved me and my twin sister, Thalia's lives when we were 9, when we first met him. Grover had been the satyr sent to guide us safely back to camp. Granted, me and Thalia survived a year on our own after we ran away from home since we had each been given a gift by our father, Zeus, that we used to protect ourselves. I had a bracelet that when the lightning bolt shaped charm was pressed, would turn into a sword in my hand. Thalia had a shield that she named Aegis and has a head of Medusa engraved on the front. It is terrifying, I have to admit. Together we protected each other for a whole year till we ran into Luke Castellan. He had been on his own for about 3 months and when we realized we were in the same predicament we joined forces. We wandered around for a long time before we came upon a young, 7 year old blonde girl named Annabeth. We took her with us, knowing she was one of us, Luke supplied her with a knife and we helped each other stay alive. We camped in the woods somewhere for a long time, a couple months, I think. That's when Grover found us.

Grover said it would only take a couple days to get to a place called Camp Half-Blood where we would be safe and would learn how to protect ourselves. We ran into so many monsters on the way there that we didn't know if we would make it. There were so many times that one of us almost died; more often than not Luke would be the one who saved us. Even Grover seemed to be in trouble most of the time. It made me wonder why a guardian would be so weak.

Long story short, we made it to Camp Half-Blood, but my sister Thalia sacrificed her life to save us. Luckily our father was feeling particularly kind that day and turned her into a tree. Yay. And so Luke, Annabeth, Grover, and I have become close friends. Grover hasn't been allowed to go on protection detail for the past 5 years because he failed his very first time since Thalia never made it. This is his second try, if he fails again, he forever loses his protectors license, which is why I want to be there to help him out. The three of us: Annabeth, Luke, and I have been training extremely hard the past few years, trying to get stronger, learning about monster, gods, and the world we were now a part of. Yet none of us had been allowed to go on a mission yet because the Oracle hadn't let us. No matter how many times we tried to ask it for a quest, she stayed silent in her little Groovy Mummy form. Anyway, I really want to go with Grover to Yancy Academy in New York to help him keep an eye on the new boy he needs to protect until he needs to come to camp. So back to now:

"So you really can't be persuaded otherwise?" Luke is trying his best to keep me from going. None of us have been out of camp for a very long time and we aren't sure what's out there anymore. Our demi-god scent is much stronger now so we would be targeted much faster.

"I cannot. Grover and Chiron leave for the start of the new school year tomorrow. I am gonna tail them and just be there in case Grover needs me." I stated, crossing my arms trying to show that there would be no argument on the matter.

"Alright, well, like I said, keep me informed." This time he pulled me in and kissed me on the lips. With that we headed back to our cabins to clean up for dinner.

0o0

The next day came and was beautiful, the sky was blue, the air was fresh and the grass was green. "Such a shame that I have to go into the city." I pouted as I made my way across the meadows behind the Big House towards the Pegasi stables. The fields around the stables had a few Pegasi around it, all white. "Eris!" I called out loud. A few seconds passed and then the beating of wings coming at me from behind. I whirled around to find a beautiful black Pegasus. She nuzzled me and I rubbed her nose. She was a Pegasus given to me and Thalia when we were on our own. I had fallen off the path of a mountain we were on and was clinging to the edge of a cliff. Our father, Zeus, sent down Eris to save me. She is ours, well, mine since Thalia is a tree and obviously won't be flying anywhere any time soon. I loved Eris because she was one of my few connections to Thalia since she was something we both shared. Also we can both speak to Eris in our minds. I guess since Poseidon made horses and Zeus gave them wings, kids from both of these gods can communicate with Pegasi. I don't get it but whatever.

"Hello, Terra, what do you need?" Eris had the sweetest voice. It sounded so motherly that I often came out to the meadows to talk to her just to feel like I have a mother. I do, but she is terrible and insane.

"I need to go to Yancy Academy in the city. Feel like going for a trip?" She whinnied, meaning yes. She loved flying outside of the camp, and she didn't get to do it often on her own. She had nowhere to go anyway.

"You know I love going anywhere. Am I just dropping you off?"

"No, I am gonna spend the day tailing Grover, trying to make sure he doesn't need help for this mission." Eris gave me a look that I could swear was equivalent to a raised eyebrow.

"Is Chiron okay with this? I don't want to be sent to the glue factory for helping you if he banned you."

"Everyone…jeez. No, he didn't ban me from going. Besides, Chiron may be a father figure to me, but he isn't my actual dad, and he cant tell me what to do anyway."

"Alright, alright, just asking. So we stay during the day and come back at night?"

"Yeah, Grover and Chiron come back at night so I have to leave after them in the morning and get back before them at night. You up for this mission, Eris?" I smirked, making it sound super dangerous and important. But it was really just me being a concerned friend and, quite frankly, wanting to go out into the real world for a bit.

"I am up for anything as long as I get paid in carrots and sugar cubes."

"Deal"

And with a deal struck we headed towards the school where Chiron and Grover were hunkering down in their new positions inside the school, teacher and student respectively. I couldn't enroll in the school like Grover was doing because I wasn't even supposed to be out of camp, so I had to find more creative ways to get in. Though, honestly, it wasn't hard to just walk into the school and roam the halls, I did it a lot. The hard part was avoiding Chiron and Grover while I was in there.

The first day I didn't even find either of them. There were so many kids at this school, which was surprising. How many kids in the New York area really had so many problems that they had to go to Yancy? And what kind of kid would this be that Grover was protecting? Questions, questions, questions, and the first day yielded no answers.

0o0

"So how was your first day at school, Terra?" Luke asked and burst out laughing. "School….ugh, why would you voluntarily go there?"

"I'm not enrolled or anything, dummy."

"Enrolled where?" The blonde daughter of Athena sat down next to me at the fire with a plate of food. Tonight she was having a slice of vegetarian pizza and a small salad.

"Oh, hey Annabeth, I'm not enrolled anywhere, as I was telling Luke, he is just joking around." I tried to play it cool but the thing about Annabeth is those grey, stormy eyes of hers could see through people like they were made of saran wrap.

"Funny, I could have sworn I overheard you talking about school and being enrolled somewhere." She nonchalantly took a bite of her pizza. She was obviously more interested in getting to the bottom of what we were talking about than eating her pizza.

"Alright fine. I have been tailing Grover when he and Chiron go to that school in the city." I said, grabbing her cup of orange soda and taking a sip. "But you can't tell anyone okay?" She looked appalled.

"Would I ever?"

"Maybe, you are a tattle-tail" Luke chimed in, he winked at her to show he was joking and grabbed some chunks of lettuce of her plate and plopped them in his mouth.

"You know you two could easily walk two feet to your left and get your own plates of food?" She said, pulling her plate out of our reach.

"Naw, too lazy." I said.

"Hungry now." Luke added.

"Bums." Annabeth stated. We all laughed. "So why are you tailing Grover?"

"Well, you know that poor goat gets scared about everything and how nervous he is about protecting again after what happened to Terra two." Said Luke.

"Thalia." I said, glaring at him. He shrugged his shoulders and I punched his arm. He knew I hated it when he pretended to forget my sister's name, she saved all our lives. But he loves to do it anyway because it annoys me.

"Well anyway, she is trying to, how did you phrase it? Be there for him if he needs you?" Luke looked at Annabeth and put his pointer finger to his temple and twirled it in a circle making the universal sign for "she is nuts."

"I am not crazy; I just wanna be a good friend, unlike you Mr. I don't want to leave camp except to go on a quest." I teased.

"Well if I am gonna go out into that obnoxious mortal world out there, I might as well be going out there to rescue something or fight someone."

"Did you get those mixed up?" Annabeth asked, pushing strands of long hair out of her face.

"Nope." He stated bluntly.

"Okay…well did you see what the new demi-god looks like? Is it a boy or a girl? And what's so important about this person that Chiron has to go too?" Annabeth asked, she gets way too excited about things.

"I have no answers for any of those questions. I got into the school today and tried to look around for the kid but I couldn't find Grover. And I have to be careful to not run into Grover or Chiron. I have to keep the fact that I am following them a secret or Chiron is going to be wicked angry at me."

"True true, you're gonna get bitch slapped!" Luke laughed.

"I'm sorry but did you have alcohol or something earlier, because you're acting really dumb." I said.

"You're a meany face." He made a puppy face, and damnit…those eyes got me again. I hugged him and said sorry. He winked at Annabeth again. Jerk.

"Well let me know when you find out more about this kid." Annabeth demanded before dumping the rest of her food into the fire and heading off to bed.

0o0

The next few months came and went rather quickly. I had learned how to wander the halls, avoiding Chiron and Grover throughout the day but being able to keep an eye on the new kid. To Annabeth's delight I learned it was a boy named Percy Jackson who Grover was protecting. He seemed nice, didn't have such a great life, but what demi-god ever did? All this time and they had never needed my help. I was beginning to question if it was worth my time to follow them anymore, it seemed like Grover and Chiron had it perfectly under control. That is, until the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Everything was going fine until the math teacher; Mrs. Dodds pulled Percy aside into a wing of the museum that was currently being worked on.

I had been tailing the group of students through most of the museum, hiding behind statues and walls whenever I thought Grover or Chiron might notice me. But I was the only one who noticed Percy walk away with Mrs. Dodds since Grover had been busy happily getting every answer right about ancient Greek history. I chose to follow Percy.

I found my way to a window that looked into the room, there was a huge sheet covering most of the wall sized window, but there was a crack where two sheets met. I watching as Mrs. Dodds walked into the room talking to Percy, though I couldn't hear a word she said to him. Percy followed and turned to close the door, that's when I noticed his math teacher "jump" onto some scaffolding. I use the term "Jump" loosely because she kinda flew. And that became my cue to run into the room. I ran around the hallway as fast as I could but by the time I got into the room Mrs. Dodds, who was now free of her human skin and revealing her true form, was in there air holding Percy in her talons. The math teacher turned out to be a fury…how did I not see this?

"Let him go you ugly, overgrown bat!" I yelled, pressing the lightning bolt shaped charm on my bracelet. My sword appeared into my right hand. I could almost hear the boy's eyes pop out of his head. The fury hissed at me.

"Stay out of this, daughter of Zeus, I was sent by your father!" She hissed again just for effect. "Where is the bolt boy?" She yelled into Percy's face. I did not envy all the fury spit he was getting in his face.

"I said let him go."

"I may not be able to rip your head off, girl, but I can do whatever I want to this boy as long as he stays alive." She growled and clawed at him flailing arms with her hands, cutting three gashes through his coat and into his arm. He howled in pain.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Percy screamed through the pain. I brandished my sword.

"Last chance, bat." I growled. And then the doors opened and Chiron, currently in his wheelchair, and Grover, currently on crutches, came in.

"Let go of him, fury, or so help me I will rip you to shreds!" Chiron yelled while I dodged and weaved in place trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. The fury hissed one last time, dropped the boy and flew out the window.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT THING?" Percy yelled again, turning to face the three of us in complete shock. I turned to Chiron and Grover; I smiled and shrugged, trying to diffuse the tension before heading over to Percy. I helped him up and when we turned back Grover and Chiron were gone. I knew what to do.

"Are you alright?" I asked, seeming like I had no idea what he had just been through. "Oh my god, your arm is bleeding!"

He looked at me like I was insane. "Yeah, you just saw that thing cut me with its claws!" He made weird clawed hand motions when he said "claws" which made me want to laugh.

"Well hold on," I pulled my backpack I had been carrying off my back and pulled out some gauze. "Take off your coat." I ordered.

"Are you gonna tell me what just happened or what?"

"I don't know what happened. I ran in here after I heard someone yelling and found you on the floor with the window broken. So how about you tell me what happened?" I gotta admit, I am good at lying.

"Are you kidding?"

"About what?" I finished wrapping his arm and handed him his coat.

"You were here; you pulled a sword out of that bracelet on your wrist by touching this charm!" He reached out and grabbed my right hand, touching the charm with his other hand. Nothing happened.

"I think you may have hit your head a little too hard or something. Should I take you to the hospital?" I felt his forehead for good measure. He slapped my hand away.

"Whatever, I'll go ask Grover."

"Whose Grover?" I asked dumbly. He just waved off the question and headed towards the doors. Before he left the room he turned.

"Thanks for bandaging my arm, even if you were lying about not knowing what happened to me." And then he was gone. I sighed and headed out after him.

0o0

"So onto the topic of why you decided to disobey me and come to Yancy anyway, Terra." Chiron was angry. He was holding back for my benefit but he is very, very angry with me. We were sitting in his teacher's office at school. Usually we would be back at camp by now but considering the fact that Percy Jackson was almost killed a couple hours ago we decided it would be best to stay at Yancy to keep an eye on him. "I specifically told you that you were not allowed to come here. I said that Grover and I were going to handle it and that you were to stay at camp. May I ask what part of that statement you had trouble understanding?"

I shifted in my chair. Grover was next to me and I could tell he felt sorry for me. "I am sorry, sir, but I wanted to be here for my friend if he needed me. I knew he was nervous about another guardian mission and I wanted to be here for him in case he needed help. Not that he would, he is a very good guardian despite what he might think."

"Despite whether or not you wanted to help him, this was his mission alone. And I am here, so there was no need for you."

"But she is already here, so is there a reason to send her home really?" Grover said, trying to help.

"I think we should. We have to keep Percy from finding out that what happened today was real. And since you stayed with him after the incident it will be harder for him to accept the mist we have put out to confuse him." Chiron said.

"But when I stayed with him I pretended I had just gotten there, if everyone is under the mist and I just stay away from him then it should be fine. As long as he doesn't see me again and ask me questions, then there shouldn't be a problem, right?" I wanted to stay so bad, I didn't like being stuck at camp all the time, I wanted to go out and do something that helped.

"It doesn't matter if you stay or not. Tomorrow is the beginning of winter break. Grover will accompany Percy back home; you can follow them on Eris since I know she is how you have been getting back and forth." He smiled. "You're not the only one who can talk to Pegasi you know."

"She promised she wouldn't tell…" I huffed and crossed my arms. "Well, in any case, thank you for not sending me home right away."

"I will be talking to you more about this when we get back to camp, but for now you should finish what you started."

0o0

The next day I was flying above the bus that Grover and Percy were on. There was a slight detour on the highway when the bus's engine started smoking and I could have sworn I saw the fates, but I was really high up and may not have been seeing straight.

Eventually the bus made it to the station nearest to Percy's apartment. Eris landed on the roof of a nearby building and we watched both boys get off the bus and go inside. But then Percy came out without Grover and started hurrying down the street trying to catch a cab.

"Great, he is ditching Grover. That's gonna do wonders for his self esteem." I got off Eris and climbed down the fire escape. I got to the other side of the street just as Grover was coming out of the bus station in a state of panic. He saw me almost immediately.

"Percy is gone! I don't know how it happened; I made him promise to wait for me to go to the bathroom." His eyes were frantically scanning the streets. I put a steadying hand on his shoulder.

"Breathe, Grover. I saw him come out and take a taxi; I am assuming he is going home. That shouldn't be a problem though because once he gets there his step father will mask his scent right? That's what Chiron said." Grover made a strange whimpering sound.

"No, you don't understand. The fates, Terra! We saw them when the bus got stuck on the side of the road. They snipped the string, he saw them snip it! He is marked for death; we have to get him to camp now!" He groaned and started muttering things about me, Luke, Annabeth and my sister Thalia; how he didn't want a repeat of that.

"Grover, knock it off. This is what I am here for, to help when things get rough, even if that wasn't my original mission from Chiron, that's what I wanted this whole time. Just to be here in case of an emergency. So please calm down. Eris is waiting on the roof across the street; she can take both of us to Percy's apartment. From there we can go straight to camp, no problem okay?" I looked him dead in the eyes and he took a deep breath and nodded.

0o0

The way Grover banged on the apartment door made me worry he would knock the whole thing down. His nervous system was about to explode right in front of me.

"Percy! Open up Percy!" He yelled, knocking again. When the door finally opened it wasn't Percy at the door, it was his mother. "Oh, hello Sally, is Percy home?"

Sally Jackson looked terrified for a moment but seemed to steady herself quickly. "Hello Grover, and who's this?" She looked me over, apparently checking to see if I, too, was from the world she wanted so desperately to keep her son out of.

"Hello, my name is Terra; we need to see Percy, Mrs. Jackson. It is very important." I poked my head into the doorway a bit to peek around; he wasn't anywhere to be seen. But what I did see was a rather disgusting looking man sitting at a makeshift poker table with three other guys. 'Must be his stepfather' I thought to myself.

"Percy is in his room. I'll go get him." She went off into a small hallway out of sight and Grover and I stepped into the apartment. It REEKED. It was no wonder Percy hadn't been found by monsters yet, this guy could mask 30 demi-god's smells easy.

"Who the hell are you two?" The balding man from the poker table got up, a collective groan issuing from the other men. Apparently they didn't like his attitude as much as they liked his poker table.

"Gabe Ugliano…" Grover muttered under his breath, telling me who the man was.

"Hello Mr. Ugliano, my name is Terra. We are friends of Percy's and we are just picking him up to go hang out at the park." I rock at lying…it's a gift I have to say. But Gabe wasn't like most parents, or even step-parents. He wanted Percy to suffer in every way possible.

"I don't think so. He is under house arrest for giving attitude when he got here. I don't even know who you are little missy, so why don't you and your little cripple friend get the hell out of here?"

"I don't think so. We are here for Percy and we aren't leaving without him." Grover said, taking a step forward.

"Percy will be out in a min-" Sally walked back into the kitchen to find me and Grover standing in a defensive, about to attack, position in front of Gabe. "Terra, Grover, could you help me with something in the other room please?"

"Sure thing, Sally." Grover said and we both followed her into her bedroom.

"So tell me what is going on." She pleaded, closing the door behind her. "We have to take him there don't we?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Grover said, laying his crutches on the bed and taking a seat.

"Grover says that when their bus broke down on the way here, the…well, the fates were standing across the street…" I started.

"And they cut the string, Sally. Percy saw them cut the string. He needs to get to camp now."

"I'll get the car and bring it around, meet me out front alright?" She left the room, grabbing her purse of off her dresser as she left. Grover and I headed into the hallway just as Percy came out of his room.

"Oh my god…" He said, completely shocked. "Grover, I am so sorry I ditched you but I-" He stopped when he noticed the girl standing right behind Grover. "Whoa…you're from the museum. So it really did happen?"

"Obviously. And now we need to take you somewhere safe because its gonna happen again. Soon." I said, pulling his arm and tugging him into the kitchen.

"Oh hell no. I told you that you two weren't taking this boy anywhere!" Gabe jumped up from his game, and with rather astonishing speed, blocked the door from us. "None of you are leaving this apartment."

"Wanna bet?" Grover raised his crutch so hard into Gabe's crotch that I had no doubt he would be singing soprano for a least a week. He doubled over and I used his downward momentum to shove him sideways so we could get through the door. We ran down the steps and out the front door just as Sally pulled up with the car.

"You guys take the car; I'll scout from the air." I whistled and Eris flew down onto the sidewalk next to me. I hopped on. "Be careful, Sally." And then I was up.

0o0

Most of the hour drive there was smooth and without a hitch. I saw nothing that indicated we were being followed. We had just a few more miles to go and then the hike through the woods, during which I would be on the ground accompanying them. And then all hell broke loose.

I didn't see the cow until it was too late, and neither did Sally. She swerved trying to avoid it after it hit the ground right in front of her car. Their car skidded sideways and flipped.

I began my decent, scanning everywhere for what had caused it to start raining cows. And then the Minotaur came running out of the woods.

"Eris, faster!" I yelled. "We have to reach the car!" Down on the ground Percy and Sally were trying to pull a semi-conscious Grover out of the back of the car. I landed a few feet away. "Eris, go to camp and find Chiron, tell him we need help!"

"Yes, Ma'am." And she took off into the sky, disappearing over the tree line.

"Grover!" I yelled, running forward to help the other two support the newly revealed satyr. Percy looked like he was about to faint. "Are you two alright?"

"We are fine." Sally put Grover's arm around her shoulder while Percy did the same on the other side. I rubbed the charm on my bracelet causing the sword to appear in my hand.

"Good, now run." The Minotaur was right behind us, in a couple seconds he would be at the car. It's snorting and grunting sounded like it was right in my ear. I heard the scraping of metal as the half man, half bison creature hoisted the car.

"DUCK!" Yelled Percy and we all hit the ground. I was running ahead of them so when the car hit the ground it was a mere inches from my outstretched hand.

"Holy shi-" I started.

"RUN, GET UP NOW!" Sally screamed. I jumped up to help them drag Grover up the hill but the Minotaur was gaining fast. I let go of Grover and turned around, letting the other three hobble ahead.

"Hey, what are you doing? That thing is trying to kill us!" Percy yelled. I simply waved him off.

"I'm trained for this, Percy. Keep going. When you reach the top of the hill there will be a huge pine tree, once you pass that you will be safe. There's others coming to help but you won't make it if I don't hold him off." I flipped my sword in my hand just to give a display of how well I handle it. "Now go." Sally had to force him up the hill but they eventually kept going. "Now for you, you big hairy football player." The Minotaur didn't talk but it sure snorted enough snot out its nose. "Come on, show me what you got!" He kicked at the ground with his right foot, readying himself to charge. His head lowered and then he started coming full force at me. Right before his sharp horns would have gouged a hole in my stomach, I jumped, using his horns as a springboard to propel myself up and over his head. I flipped and landed on my feet on the other side.

Unfortunately for the Minotaur, once it was running full force, it had a very difficult time stopping or changing direction. He had to use two trees to slow himself down enough to finally turn back to face me. But apparently even ancient monsters have some semblance of a brain because he seemed to realize that, now that we switched places, he was closer to the others than I was. Before I could register it myself, he was charging after them. Even with all the strength and endurance tests I have gone through, I couldn't run fast enough to catch the monster. Suddenly I was wishing I hadn't sent Eris ahead.

I heard the others before I saw them. Grover was yelling for Percy to get over the boundary line and Percy was yelling about how he wasn't going to leave his mother behind. And then Percy yelled as the Minotaur crushed his mother into dust. That part I saw.

"No, mom!" He screamed. "Hey, ugly, over here!" He tried to distract the monster when he saw me coming so I could attack it, but once again the monster surprised us all by shoving Percy sideways and turning to charge me.

'Since when did these monsters get so smart?' I asked myself. But now wasn't the time to figure out the answers, and obviously I couldn't ask the Minotaur. Instead I dodged to the left, rolling back into a standing position, sword brandished as he turned around to face me again, ready to charge Percy now.

"Percy, did Chir-…Mr. Brunner ever give you a pen?" It was Percy's only hope because there was no way I could get between the Minotaur and the boy in time to sufficiently protect him. Since he hadn't given the pen to Percy in the museum I figured he must have before we left this morning.

"What are you talking about?" Percy screamed as he realized the Minotaur was targeting him now.

"THE PEN, PERCY, THE PEN!" Grover was helplessly jumping around, not quit knowing what to do to help. Honestly, there isn't much he could do. He was trained to fight but Grover had never been very good at it. He always second guessed himself and was nervous about what might go wrong. "Terra, others are on their way, I can see lights coming up the hill!"

'Well, that's only going to be useful if I can keep Percy alive that long.' When I looked at Percy he was fishing in his pockets for something.

"You mean this?" He yelled, pulling out a normal looking pen.

"YES PERCY, NOW CLICK IT" Grover screamed. The Minotaur was almost on top of him.

"What?"

"Click it for Olympus's sake Percy!" I screamed. He clicked the pen and a bronze sword appeared in his hand, much the same way that mine appears in my hands when I rub the charm on my bracelet. "Now defend yourself!" I prayed that his demi-god instincts kept him alive for next few seconds as I ran towards the Minotaur. I saw Percy dodge to the side which disoriented the Minotaur enough for me to jump on its back.

"GAHHHHHH" It screamed and snorted and yelled, trying feebly to grab me with his arms. Luckily they didn't reach around his massive upper body very well. Unluckily, he was smarter than usual and slammed backwards into a nearby tree.

It felt like I had been hit from behind by a bus…or a train…or possibly both simultaneously. I heard Grover yelling my name accompanied by the Minotaur's howl and a burst of gold dust in the air. Percy had managed to dodge the next attack which lodged the monster's own horn into the tree. He broke it off by accident and Percy, having had his sword knocked out of his hand, used it to kill its owner. I next heard the voices of campers coming over the boundary line and saw Percy collapse. And then my vision blurred and the world went black.

0o0

Percy's eyes fluttered open, taking in the strange medical area. There were people on cots all around him. Some were missing limbs, some were out cold, and others had really, really bad burns.

"Oh hey, you're awake. Jeez, someone might think that _you _were the one who got slammed into a tree by a 3 ton Minotaur." I said smiling.

"So how do you feel, buddy?" Asked Grover. He looked really nervous, like Percy might scream at him or something. Instead Percy just looked confused.

"I thought it was a dream, but you're really a goat!"

"Blahhhh" He made some strange bleating sounds out of disgust. "I am a satyr and you better watch what you say because some satyrs would beat the crap out of you for that insult."

"Sorry…how long was I out?"

"Three days." I answered.

"THREE DAYS!" He sat up too fast and gagged a little. A hand appeared on his chest, gently pushing him back down on the bed.

"Yes three days, and you shouldn't move too fast because you might throw up. And I don't want to clean it up." A blonde girl with long, curly hair stood over him. The way the light hit her made him blush a little bit.

"It isn't like you would clean it up anyway, Annabeth, you would make me do it or something." Said some younger kid who passed by. The girl named Annabeth scoffed and turned back to Percy.

"So three days, huh?" He shrugged. "Don't worry, it's always different for demi-gods when they have to fight something for the first time. It awakens the demi-god inside of you. The first time I fought I cried for 3 hours straight." Annabeth said, smiling a bit.

"Trust me, it's true, I was there." I said. "And so was Grover." Grover nodded solemnly, still hoping Percy didn't remember anything about his mother being gone.

"Yeah, like your first time was any better. She screamed for a good 20 minutes before she finally sat down and passed out." Annabeth joked.

"Good times." I replied fondly. "Like she said, though, everyone has a different response. Yours was just to pass out right away."

"So that means that everything I remember is real? Even the part about my…my mom being crushed by that monster." He asked. Grover seemed to shrink into himself a bit.

"Yeah, Percy…I am so sorry, man. I wish I could have helped but she can't come into the camp, it's only for demi-gods. I wish I could have-" He cut himself off to wipe a tear from his eye. I put a comforting arm around his shoulder and told him it wasn't his fault.

"So what do I do now? She was all I had."

"You train, learn to protect yourself, and then we figure out what that fury meant when it said my father sent it to attack you." I said, balling up my fists.

"What does your father want with me? And who is he that he knows who I am and wants me dead?" Percy asked.

"Well, I don't know about wanting you dead, but he wants to know where you hid his master bolt." I answered. Annabeth perked up.

"Wait…its been stolen?"

"Yeah, according the fury the other day who tried to kill Percy. Apparently Zeus thinks that Percy stole it. Even though he couldn't have because we have been with him the past few months and he knows nothing of this world. Except what he found out recently, of course."

"Zeus…do you mean the ancient Greek god? As in the head honcho?" Percy's eyes could not have been any wider at this point. Oh wait, they got even wider when I said this:

"Yeah, Zeus is my father." I swear he almost passed out again. "Every one of us has a godly parent. Well, all demi-gods do. Annabeth's mother is Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war strategy. Long story short, I am a rarity because the big three: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades aren't supposed to have kids. But to spare you my life's story, I have a twin sister, Thalia who is actually the pine tree you saw at the top of the hill."

"Wait…your sister is a tree?"

"Don't interrupt." I gave him a quick death glare and continued. "Yes, my sister is a tree, but that is a story for another time I think. We believe your father is Poseidon, the god that rules the oceans and water and whatnot. I think that's why you're being targeted. Right now you are the only other child of the big three. He believes you are stealing the master bolt to bring it to your father and help him take over my father's throne." I sighed. "The gods don't really take much time to think things through, especially not Zeus."

"So your dad wants to kill me because he thinks I stole something that I didn't really steal and he won't even give me a chance to explain myself?" Percy said, trying to fully grasp how he was involved with all this.

"That would be the gist of it." Annabeth answered. "As soon as you are able to walk we will bring you to see Chiron, he will know how to handle this."

"Don't worry too much, just focus on getting better for now." Grover said meekly.

We all talked for a little longer, telling Percy all about the camp and what we do here and learning a bit about each other. A couple hours later we left, leaving him in the infirmary to rest.

0o0

"So you brought the boy back to camp, huh?" Luke asked, running his fingers through my long, dark hair while I sat in between his legs. We were sitting against Thalia's tree like we often do, just looking at the stars and talking.

"Yeah, he doesn't know what's going on. I don't think he stole the bolt, and I don't understand why my father won't be reasonable about this."

"Well, Chiron will get to the bottom of it. He will probably have Percy go to Olympus and talk to Zeus-"

"That is suicide and you know it. Though, honestly, that is what Chiron wants to do. He hopes that if they bring me along I can talk some sense into my father. But I don't think I can. He and I aren't really on speaking terms since he turned Thalia into a tree" I tapped the trunk with my hand. "I don't get why he wouldn't just bring her back…"

"I think it is more complicated than we understand. But Chiron wants you to go with them to Olympus? I honestly don't think your presence is going to sway your father's judgment anymore than, say, my presence would." He kissed the top of my head. "Maybe there is another way to deal with this."

"I don't know. We will have to wait for tomorrow when Percy is able to go talk to Chiron." I brought Luke's hand that I was holding up to my lips and kissed it. "I love you, you know…"

"Back 'atcha monkey." He squeezed my hand.

"So Chiron also wants me and Annabeth to start training Percy tomorrow, taking him through the different things we have at camp. You know: Archery, Chariot driving, Pegasus flying, sword fighting is a biggie, and the lava wall. I can't wait to see how much of himself he burns off the first time he does it."

"Hey, random question, but is this the kid everyone thinks the Great Prophecy is about?" I scoffed at him.

"Well that Great Prophecy might be about me you know. It just says that a child of the big three will have to make a choice that saves or dooms the world when they turn 16."

"I bet you want it to be you, you like being the center of attention." He said jokingly.

"No. Not for this I don't. I don't want that kind of pressure, I don't want the fate of the world riding on my shoulders, thank you very much."

"Well how can you possibly avoid it if you are the child of the prophecy?" I sat there for a moment, trying to think it over.

"I could always get turned into a tree?" We both laughed and rubbed the bark of Thalia's tree as an apology for making light of her condition. Not that she could hear us. And then we got up and headed back to camp. Tomorrow would be an interesting day, getting to know Percy and figuring out what was going on when it came to the master bolt.

**A/N: There will be more chapters like this. Random places in the story where I have flashbacks to explain Terra's past. They don't always follow the main story. It is basically when I feel like writing more of her back story. I know it is probably annoying, but I don't want to make a whole new story just for her back story. Anyway, R&R please and thank you. (I will also continue on with this and other bits from her past eventually) **


	6. Don't Forget Your Underwear

"So how are we planning to get to Mount Cylene?" Nico asked as he passed the floor of my room in cabin one. We were waiting for Butch to arrive with Annabeth.

"Can I just explain it when the others get here? That way I don't have to do it twice." He grunted, which I assumed meant 'whatever'. A few minutes passed and we heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" I called out. The door opened to reveal Annabeth followed by a tough looking, very muscular, young man. The only thing that threw off his look was the rainbow tattooed on his shoulder. "Alright, now that we are all here, take a seat and we can discuss the mission." Nico and Butch took a seat on Jason's bed and Annabeth and I sat on mine since they are right across from each other.

"So first we would both like to thank you for agreeing to help Terra and I on this mission." Annabeth said. "Next we move onto the matter of how we are getting to Arcadia."

"Chiron has connections at one of the piers in the city. He will be pulling some strings to get us a boat by tomorrow morning. All we have to do is go to the pier tomorrow and some friend of Camp Half-Blood is supposed to meet us and show us how to drive the boat and what not." I explained.

"What kind of boat is it?" Nico asked.

"Does it matter? A boat is a boat and it is being given to us to help us in our quest. We shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth." Butch stated.

"I never understood that metaphor…why can't you look into the mouth of a horse you got as a gift?"

"Focus please, Nico." Annabeth said, running her hand through her hair and sighing. "Anyway, the boat trip will be about 4 days if all goes well, meaning we don't run into monsters. Which is actually pretty likely because when demi-gods travel over water we tend to attract all kinds of sea monsters. But I am certain we can handle it."

"We will probably spend about 2 days at the fountain and then spend, who knows how long, trying to get to Calypso's Island. Unfortunately for us, we have a time frame. Today is the 4th of this month. We have to be back by the 30th." I explained.

"Wait why? There isn't anything going on, no other quests, besides looking for Percy, so why do we have to be back by then?"

"Because, Nico… that is when Leo and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin thinks they will be done with their flying ship. And since we are pretty important members of this camp, we have to be back before they set sail to San Francisco to find the Roman version of Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth said.

"Well then we will just have to move fast and efficiently." Butch punched his right fist into the palm of his left hand emphasizing that he was ready to deal with anything that would get in his way. "So it is only the four of us, right?"

"Correct. Usually quests only involve 3 people but lately the numbers have been varying." Annabeth answered.

"Not like it matters" I added. "I don't think we should have too much trouble getting to Mount Cylene. Or even Calypso's Island. Even with the fact that there is a Basilisk guarding Hermes' fountain."

"So what is a basilisk again? Isn't that what killed Selena?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, you can't look it in the eyes, its saliva and bite are deadly, it spits venom that dissolves anything it touches…basically it equals death."

"Well gee, Annabeth, thank you for that rousing description. I cannot wait to face this thing." Nico said sarcastically. "So is there anything else we need to know other than to get packed, sleep well, and be ready in the morning?"

"Nope, that is basically it. Just pray that Hermes wants to help us, even despite my father's orders against communication with demi-gods." I responded.

"Great, then I am going to go back to the underworld and pack some boxers." And with that Nico disappeared, dissolving into shadows.

"I feel as though that underworld boy is going to be upsetting me a lot." Butch said.

"Yeah, apparently he has that effect on a lot of people ever since he met Percy and kind of came out of his shy boy shell. Which, to be honest, I wish he would crawl back into from time to time." I responded. Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Alright, well I guess we should all get packing. It is a long trip, pack for variable weather, and yeah…sleep a lot." Annabeth added.

"Sweet deal, man; an excuse to sleep longer!" Butch said excitedly.

"Well, we can't sleep in though. We have to meet at the pier at 7am."

"Annabeth….you make me sad sometimes." Butch said before slinking out of my cabin.

"Well, see you in the morning blondie!" I shouted and ran out the door leaving Annabeth standing alone in a cabin that wasn't hers. I could have sworn I heard her swear in Greek as I slammed the front door shut.

***Later that night***

"So you are going on a mission? I thought you were going out with Nico tonight? How did this turn into a mission? I am so lost right now." Leo said before shoving a huge piece of pizza into his mouth.

"Well, one: why are you sitting at cabin one's table again? Two: how did you even know I was spending the night with Nico..or that I was supposed to anyway… And number three: I am going on a mission to see if Hermes can help us find Calypso's island because of a revelation me and Annabeth had earlier today." I answered while Leo continued to shove food into his mouth. "And why the hell are you eating so much! I have never seen you eat like this!"

"I have been stuck in the forge all day. I haven't eaten since breakfast….yesterday."

"Oh, ouch. Sorry, continue on eating like a starving pig."

"So is there something wrong between you and Nico?" Jason asked. He was sitting right across from me and next to Leo. He had a perfect view of my expression.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Because you looked pissed when his name was mentioned. Don't lie to me sis, I know when you are."

"Ugh…stupid brother/sister intuition. And yes, I am pissed at him. He told me he was gonna be here at 3 today and I happened to go to the big house to see Rachel and he was in there with her. And when I knocked after hearing both their voices Rachel answered and told me I had to leave. Basically I wasn't wanted there. What the two of them were doing in her room alone, I have no idea. But I am not happy that he lied to me and then pretended like he hadn't known I was outside Rachel's door." I sighed, trying to clear the building tension in my body. "But whatever. Hey, weren't you gonna take Mrs. O'leary so you and Piper could go on a date tonight?"

"We were but then we got an Iris from Coach Hedge saying she should visit her dad because he was missing her a lot. So I offered her Mrs. O'leary and said we could do our date another night."

"That blows, dude." Leo said with a full mouth.

"Well, it must have seemed super sweet to her because she kissed me for a pretty decent amount of time and then blushed and left."

"It is so cute…young love." I said, dramatically staring off into space above Jason's head.

"Oh knock it off. Anyway, when do you guys leave?"

"7am tomorrow is when we get on the boat. Then we are gone till we get back."

"That is oddly unspecific." Leo butted in.

"Well, quests are really hard to put a time frame on because there are so many things that could happen that would make it last longer. Or cut it short if everyone dies."

"Nice, Terra, you are leaving tomorrow to go THROUGH the sea of monsters to get to Arcadia, both of which are FULL of monsters, and you don't know when you will be back and you are telling me that you all might die. Not to say that isn't a risk of every quest, but it is taboo to say it aloud. Dum dum." He ran a hand through his cropped blond hair. He cut it recently so it wasn't in his face anymore. I liked it short, he looked more grown up.

"Don't worry little brother; we will be sending updates back to camp frequently. Just ask Chiron and he will keep you updated. I promise."

"You better keep us all updated or I will take my flying ship, go find you, and beat the shit out of you." Leo said, throwing a half eaten leg of lamb on the table sending chunks of meat flying everywhere. "Oops, sorry guys." We all laughed and finished eating while joking about random things and just being happy.

Unfortunately, that happiness wouldn't last forever. I didn't know how much trouble the four of us would be getting into once the journey began.


	7. We Meet the God of Hope

The four of us arrived on the pier a little after 7am the next morning. We didn't know who to look for so we decided to just stand there next to the pier looking lost until someone claimed us. Luckily it didn't take too long.

"Hey, you Chiron's kids?" It was a man in his mid to late 30's. He was dressed in a black business suit, which I thought was kind of weird for a man who owned what I assumed would be a normal fishing boat. He had short blonde hair bleached almost completely white from years of sitting in the sun. His face had a lot of blonde scruffy hair on it which also didn't belong with the suit. "Well come on now, we haven't got all day." We followed him to the end of the pier and stood in shock when he gestured to the boat we would be taking. It was like a miniature Princess Andromeda.

"Uhh..this is our boat?" Butch asked, craning his neck all the way back to see to the top.

"Sure thing, kid." He slapped Butch on the back almost sending him off the edge of the pier.

"Don't you think this is a little excessive for four kids to be driving around? Its gotta be 5 stories tall…at least. We were thinking more of a…fishing boat…or a speed boat maybe." I said staring up at the massive white boat which gleamed in the light. I tilted my head and read the name on the side: Atlanta's Pride.

"Atlanta, wasn't that the woman in the myths who was a maiden of Artemis? And no one knew who her godly parent was?" Annabeth asked, throwing her knowledge around as usual.

"Yes, she was. I remember she was just an infant when she was abandoned somewhere in Arcadia and left to die because her father wanted a boy." The man responded, looking off into the distance as if remembering a fond moment from his past.

"Wait, you were there? Just how old are you? And who are you?" Nico asked.

"My name is Elpis, god of hope. I stood over Atlanta, waiting for someone to come find her, blessing the child so she would survive. And to answer your question, son of Hades, too old for your mind to comprehend. But back to my boat: I loved Atlanta and watched over her till the day she died. I have many boats, many things really. But I thought Atlanta's Pride would be perfect. It's almost as if she will return to where her life began." He smiled and tried to pat Butch's shoulder again but he ducked out of the way. Elpis kept on smiling and patted the air where Butch had been standing, apparently oblivious to the boy not being there anymore. "Anyway, let me give you the tour."

It was incredible. We spent almost 40 minutes walked around the 6 level yacht learning where everything was. There was a fully stocked kitchen with everything a hungry demi-god kid could want from pop tarts to lucky charms to packets that, when put into the microwave, turned into full course turkey dinners. There were 4 full bathrooms throughout the ship, all on different floors. There were 9 bedrooms that made Chiron's room in the big house look like a small card board box. There was a small movie theater and even a bowling alley with two lanes. It was beyond belief. At the very end of the tour was a small infirmary stocked with all kinds of magical remedies including Nectar and Ambrosia that would make the Apollo kids green with envy.

"I hope all of this is to your liking." Elpis smiled again. He ran a hand over his stubbly chin.

"Oh…my…GODS!" Nico shouted. "A bowling alley! That's insane! I thought we would end up with a dinky row boat or something. But wow!"

"Don't pass out from excitement, Nico." I said. "Besides, we won't be having a whole lot of time to mess around in the movie theater or the bowling alley."

"She is right, we have to be focused on why we are here to begin with." Annabeth looked like she was heartbroken thinking about Percy. She always thought of him when she was starting to have fun or smile. She felt guilty that she was being happy while her boyfriend was off in the gods only know what kind of trouble. "We need to get going, thank you so much for the ship, Elpis. We promise to take good care of it."

"Don't worry about it. The ship, even if she gets blown up or something, will always return to this harbor in ship-shape. No pun intended. Though it won't return with you on it…thought I suppose if it blows up then you won't have to worry about that huh?" He gave a hearty laugh and then steadied himself. "You kids will do fine. Worry about your own lives, not the ship, got it? Besides, Zeus would throw me into Tartarus if I lent you my boat and you died on it, despite his warnings not to converse with demi-gods."

"Thank you again, Elpis, you have been a great help!" I said. He smiled one last time and started to glow, we all turned our heads and closed our eyes just before he showed his true form and disappeared. "Alright, then. We need to get this ship moving. We can't waste time."

Later that night we were speeding along heading towards the coast of Florida where I remembered the Sea of Monsters is. Last time I was here Clarisse had asked me to accompany her on her quest to find the golden fleece. We ended up running into Percy, Annabeth, and Percy's Cyclops brother, Tyson. They weren't supposed to be there. Anyway, long story short: our boat exploded and next thing I know me and Clarisse are trapped on the Cyclops island with Grover in a wedding dress…yeah…it was interesting. Hopefully this time when we tried to enter the sea of monsters our boat wouldn't explode. Not to mention the fact that the entrance is between two insanely dangerous monster sisters. I stood at the wheel of the ship trying to mull over how we would get past them this time when there was a knock on the cabin door.

"Come in."

"Hey, I have to talk to you." It was Butch. Not at all the person who I thought would need to speak to me right now.

"Yeah, what's up?"

He took a seat in a chair near the door and sighed heavily. He had his elbows resting on his knees and one of his hands continuously running through his short, messy hair. "Do you believe Percy is still alive? Is this quest even worth us dying over?"

"Hey now…no one said anything about dying. I mean, at least I'm not planning on it. I don't know what your plans are…"

"I know we don't want to die, obviously. But you and Annabeth are the only ones on the ship who have been to the Sea of Monsters and you guys almost died at the entrance last time…"

I locked the wheel of the ship in place. We only needed to go straight anyway. I sat right next to him. "Look, I know why you're worried, Butch, but we have to do this. I know there is something important on Calypso's island. Whether its Percy or a clue to where he is, or something entirely different. I know we have to go there. And, unfortunately for us, we have to go through the Sea of Monsters. Life as a demi-god is dangerous. Sometimes you have to stick your neck out there to save someone else's." He looked me right in the eye and I could tell this wasn't the only thing bothering him. "Butch, how about you tell me what's really on your mind?"

"I..I have been having nightmares about this quest for the past few nights. My dreams never make a whole lot of sense. It's all just bits and pieces of what's gonna happen to us. There are flashes of swirling vortexes of water, then there's horrible spine covered creatures, creatures with wings, and poison spit, and horrible darkness where all I can feel is fear. It doesn't exactly…I don't know, strengthen my spirits. Don't get me wrong, I want to find Percy and bring him back to camp, I really do. But I haven't really gone on a quest before. I did leave camp during the war but that was with an entire camp's worth of people to protect each other. There is only four of us. If even one of us dies we are that much more screwed."

"Trust me, Butch, it feels like that for everyone on their first quest. You can't even imagine how nerve racking it was for me, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover when we went on our quest to clear Percy's name. And that wasn't even a horrible dangerous quest like going through the Sea of Monsters. It's alright to be afraid and nervous. We just need to stick together and we will be okay. I promise." I gave my best 'everything is alright' smile and he finally smiled back.

"You're right; there is no need to be so worried. We will face the dangers as they come. No use fussing over them now." He got up off the chair and looked a lot stronger and braver than when he had walked in. After he left I took the wheel again and couldn't help but think: if this quest was getting to Butch…the toughest guy I know, then maybe we were in for a lot more trouble than I had expected…


	8. A Little Luck Goes A Long Way

Now, it's not like I haven't been in the Sea of Monsters before. But this time felt…different. Like if I stared at the water too long it might suck me in and drown me. Every few miles I saw another spine covered body slip out and then back into the water. Like crests of a wave; you wouldn't really notice if you weren't looking for them. I had been standing at the wheel for what seemed like an eternity after Butch left, I was starting to feel tired. My eyelids were getting heavy from staring at nothing but the ocean for the past few hours. Suddenly the door behind me opened and Annabeth walked in with Nico right behind her.

"You should go rest. Jason told me you didn't sleep well last night." Annabeth walked up beside me and placed a hand on the wheel. I knew I couldn't protest so I moved aside and said 'thanks'.

"What's Butch up to? Is he feeling any better yet?" I asked.

"He is bowling. If you could call it that; he throws so hard he breaks at least 3 pins every single time he is up." Nico replied, crossing his arms and taking a seat near the door. "Annabeth is right, Terra, you need to sleep. You look like you're about to pass out." I was about to protest when he stood up and grabbed my arm like I was about to fall. "Don't worry; I'll take you to your room." I wasn't in the mood to fight him so I figured I might as well let him lead me to my room, not that I had even picked on out yet.

We went two levels down and walked to the end of a long hallway before he finally opened a door and led me inside. The room was amazing! There was beautiful curtains made of silk that hung from the enormous windows behind the bed. Every time the curtains moved it looked like lightning flashed across the deep purple fabric. The bed was ultra-mega-king sized. All four of us could sleep on it and never touch. The sheets were white with shell designs on them, fish that seemed to swim across it. In the far, right corner of the room was a gigantic fish tank which held a lot of deep sea fish. Each one was beautiful. I noticed there was also an octopus sitting on the bottom of the tank, watching me check out the room. It creeped me out but was still pretty cool. The walls were white with a deep purple, plushy carpet, the same color as the curtains. All this time Nico was watching my reaction, he must have picked this room out especially for me.

"Each room on the ship is different. I thought you would like this one the best." I turned and saw him smile for a split second until he noticed me looking and it faded back into his neutral expression of not caring. "Well, I will leave you to sleep." He started to leave when I reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Nico…can I ask you something?"He looked confused but nodded. "Why have you been acting so cold towards me the past few days? Ever since you met with Rachel…" I shifted my eyes and stared at the floor. I had forgotten all about that till now. He apparently didn't know I knew because his cheeks started blushing. "I mean…are you two…?" I cut off my sentence, not wanting to continue to say 'together'. I was selfish to think that way since I told him I love Luke and still believe he is alive, but still…I couldn't help but feel jealous.

"No!" He said quickly, looking straight at me. The pink in his cheeks faded immediately. "That's not it at all, I promise. We are just friends. I just- asked her something is all." That didn't do anything to clear up why he was being so rude.

"Well that's nice, but you didn't answer my question. You have been acting cold to me, why?"He shifted his feet and ran a hand through his hair. I could tell he was nervous and didn't want to tell me what had been going on. "Actually, its fine, you really don't have to tell me if you don't want to. If it's between the two of you then I don't have to know." I smiled at him, trying to reassure him that it didn't matter, even though it did.

"Thanks, Terra. It's not really important anyway. But it has nothing to do with me and Rachel; I can absolutely promise you that." We both smiled, trying to hide how uncomfortable this conversation was getting. Finally after a few minutes of awkward silence he said "well, get some sleep. I am going to go help Butch find some more bowling pins to smash." And with that I was alone. I fell onto my bed and crawled to the pillows. I was out almost as soon as my head hit one. And then I started to dream.

_It was dark, as usual. I heard chains and voices but I couldn't tell where they were coming from. I was walking…when I had I started moving? I somehow knew exactly where I was going. I knew there were rock walls all around me and that the tunnel was hardly big enough for two people side by side. I knew all this even though I couldn't see a thing. I kept walking, the voices got louder and louder till they were screaming in my head, yelling things to me that I couldn't understand. I felt crunching under my feet with each step which caused tingles to run up my spine. In my head I was freaking out, wondering what was under my feet, but my body did nothing but move forward at the same slow pace. All at once the voices and the crunching stopped and I felt the ground fall away. I was falling and I couldn't see anything. I had no control and I was about to die. I saw a speck of light which rapidly grew bigger until I was blinded by it. I knew the ground was coming up fast. I was going to die from the impact. I couldn't control the air, it was useless. I gave into the inevitable. _

"Terra, wake up! There entrance to the Sea of Monsters is ahead!" My mind was too groggy to register whose voice it was. My door slammed shut and I was alone. I rubbed my head and stretched, trying to shake the memory of the dream I had just experienced.

When I finally arrived in the steering room Butch was driving and Annabeth had a worried look on her face as she ran to hug me.

"Are you alright?" She said while she placed a hand on my forehead. "You feel fine now."

"Now?" I was confused.

"You have been asleep for almost 2 days. You were running a fever the whole time." Nico explained. He was standing near Butch with his arms crossed again, but he looked relieved to see me standing there.

"What? I just fell asleep a couple hours ago. I couldn't have slept for 2 days. That's impossible."

"Well I guess now we know the impossible is entirely possible." Butch said without turning away from the wheel.

"Well, who just came and woke me up?" I asked. They all seemed to shocked to see me up here.

"No one…We have all been up here for at least an hour now." Annabeth placed her hand on my forehead again. I sighed.

"Annabeth, I am not sick. Someone came into my room and told me we were approaching land and then slammed the door. I heard it, I am not insane."

"Well, maybe that was part of your dream still? Did you see anyone?" Nico asked.

"No…" I was even starting to doubt myself. "Whatever, I am awake now. How close are we?"

"The island of Scylla is right ahead of us. And her sister Charybdis is right next to that. How do we want to go about this?" Butch asked.

Annabeth and I looked at each other. Last time we had tried to enter the Sea of Monsters we almost got destroyed by Charybdis and then eaten by Scylla when her sister blew us into the cliffs. And then our boat exploded… This was going to be difficult.

"Angle the boat towards Charybdis but try to stay in the middle of the two." Annabeth said. "When Charybdis sucks in, we will be forced closer to her, but when she spits the water back out, we will be, hopefully, moving with enough momentum against the waves to stay far enough away from Scylla." It sounded like a perfect idea in theory. But then again Clarisse's idea to attack Charybdis had sounded possible as well, and then didn't end up so well.

"Well, we have to try something, so let's give it a go." I replied when the boys said nothing. "Maybe you should take the wheel, Annabeth, since it is your plan and you know what you want to do." Butch let her take the wheel without any back talk. Both Butch and Nico knew Annabeth and I had more experience in the Sea of Monsters, even if we had only been here once. They knew they should differ to us when dealing with certain monsters.

"Stay inside this cabin no matter what. We don't need Scylla snatching anyone up if we get too close." Annabeth said. We continued toward the gap between the two sisters, slowly picking up speed and being pushed back again with each inhale and exhale of Charybdis. "Let's hope this time will be different since we are in a god's boat. Maybe it is stronger than the one Clarisse had." Even Annabeth didn't look like she was too sure of this. Not many heroes make it through the Sea of Monsters. Most die at the entrance.

Then everything happened at once: we were sucked right into the whirlpool. Now we could see right into the giant monster's mouth. Wreckage of ships were stuck between her teeth and the sounds emitted by the giant mouth made it hard to hear when Annabeth yelled to brace ourselves. The mouth closed up tight, the lips curled up at the ends in a cruel smile and then BAM! All the water exploded out of the mouth in a tall column of water that shot us backwards, way too close to Scylla's cliffs. If it weren't for Annabeth's quick maneuvering we would have slammed right into them and been shattered into a million tiny pieces. But instead she cranked the wheel in the opposite direction causing the ship to narrowly miss the cliffs. She kicked the godly yacht into high gear. Nico, Butch, and I flew backwards against the back wall. The only thing keeping Annabeth upright was the wheel she had a firm grip on. It was impossible how fast our boat was speeding along. Any mortal yacht this tall, going this fast, would break apart…or explode. But this one just shot through the gap between the monsters like it was no big deal. Charybdis shot out another spout of water and we shot ahead even faster. Soon we were out of range of Scylla and her sister, the cliffs fading into the distance. We all steadied ourselves as Annabeth slowed the boat back down to a normal speed.

"That was easy enough." Nico said, rolling his shoulder, trying to get the kinks out from being slammed into the wall. Butch and I rubbed the backs of our heads and sighed.

"A little too easy…" I said. "Way easier than the last time. I wonder if we just got lucky-"

"Or if someone is helping us along." Annabeth finished. We all shared a meaningful look. Could the gods be helping us even though Zeus forbade it? Or was a more sinister force trying to lure us deeper into the Sea of Monsters?


	9. What's Love Got to Do With it?

We all stayed in the cabin for a while after we got into the Sea of Monsters. The boys wanted to see how different it was here than in the normal ocean. It didn't look any different. They got bored after about an hour and headed back to the lower levels to check out what movies were in stock. Annabeth and I were alone.

"Are you sure you are alright, Terra? I swear to the gods that you were out for 2 days. We thought you were dying or something." Annabeth kept her gaze steady on me even though she was steering the boat. I thought for a few minutes about my dream. It had been so quick that there was no way I could have been asleep for 2 days.

"I don't know, Annabeth. I don't think anything is wrong with me. At the very least I feel fine now so I guess it doesn't matter. I will take your word that I was unconscious for 2 days and that I had a fever. But there's something I wanna talk to you about." I told her about my dream and how I have had it every night for the past few weeks. It always starts the same but for some reason it always ends different. "Sometimes it ends with me waking up and nothing else happens. Sometimes I fall like in the dream I just had. And…its rare…but sometimes I end up outside, what I know is a jail cell, and I can feel that there is someone inside, the person calls my name but I can't tell who it is. That is usually when I wake up. Any ideas what it could mean?"

"Maybe it's Percy? Maybe your dreams mean that we are on the right track." She looked hopeful so I didn't want to tell her that I had a sinking feeling it wasn't Percy I was trying to find in my dream.

We continued chatting about how we needed to avoid that all women's resort we almost got stuck on last time, and the Cyclops's island as well. Shortly there-after we spotted land that we didn't recognize.

"Should we stop there?" Annabeth asked.

"Why? We need to sail through the Sea of Monsters. We don't have to stop anywhere." And that's when all hell broke loose. Suddenly a rogue wave came up behind up and shoved the boat into the sandy beach so hard that Annabeth and I had to peel our faces off of the viewing window. "Uhh…ouch." I said as I helped Annabeth steady herself. She was bleeding out of her right nostril and I had bit my lip but otherwise we were fine.

The door burst open and the boys came flying in. "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" Nico yelled. He noticed our bloodied noses and lips and seemed to calm down. "You two okay?" We nodded.

"I think it was a rogue wave that knocked up onto the beach." Annabeth said as she wiped the blood away from her nose.

"Except that when it comes to the Sea of Monsters, everything happens on purpose. We are supposed to end up here; either that or someone made it so. Either way I think we should check it out." Butch said.

"As much as I think we shouldn't….there's probably a reason we wound up here. So we should do a VERY quick search and see what we find."

We found ourselves on a white sandy beach, the kind you would find at an expensive tropical resort. It was beautiful. The sun was starting to set and there were palm trees and a cool breeze. Being here just made me think of how beautiful the world is. And how much I just wanted to lay down and soak it all up. The others must have been feeling the same way because each one of them had the same dreamy expression on their faces. I started cracking up. They all looked at me like I was nuts.

"Sorry, we all just look so- silly right now! We are obviously being affected by something."

"Or someone." Nico piped in. He was currently trying very hard to make it look like he hadn't just been day dreaming about how pretty the sky was. "We should-uh- probably get going on the search, right?"

"Yes. You and Butch take the south side of the Island and Annabeth and I shall take the North. We meet back here in an hour. If we don't find anything then we will leave." I said. We all agreed and then we were off.

Annabeth and I were quick to find nothing except a love for sand between our toes. We had taken off our shoes and were traversing the edge of the island on the sand, just because. We would often giggle girlishly and point at pretty things we saw. More than once we had to pinch ourselves and snap back to reality. I couldn't help but wonder if the boys were doing any better because so far we hadn't found a single thing except for endless palm trees. We made it back to the boat about 10 minutes later than we were supposed to but the boys still hadn't shown up. We weren't too worried yet because for one thing: if they had gotten into trouble, Nico would have just shadow traveled them back to the boat. And two: the Sea of Monsters tended to make telling time a little difficult. There was something about it that made time move slower and faster all at once. You could enter the Sea of Monsters on a Wednesday and leave on what you think is a Friday but it's actually a Sunday because you were there for almost a whole week. Being a demi god gets weird like that sometimes. Eventually we saw Butch and Nico making their way to the boat.

"We were beginning to worry about you two, did you find anything?" Annabeth called out. Suddenly a chill ran up my spine, like someone had just barely rubbed some silk fabric on my spine so lightly that it tickled. Wait…that is a weird way to describe it. Stupid island. Suddenly the boy's eyes got wide and they ran full force to the boat, then to right where we were standing. Butch ended up plowing right into Annabeth and Nico plowed right into me. We all went crashing onto the sand.

"Annabeth, did I ever tell you how beautiful I think your hair is in the sunlight…or anytime of the day?" Butch asked dreamily as he scooped up a chunk of her hair and began rubbing it on his face. I would have started gagging if it weren't for Nico who suddenly pulled my face to his and gave me a huge, sloppy kiss. A) Nico doesn't give wet kisses….ever. B) He would never have the guts to do it so openly. He is a very shy lover. I immediately proceeded to punch him in the face and send him flying off of me. Then I helped Annabeth push Butch off of her and we readied ourselves for a battle.

"Alright, you're obviously not Butch and Nico so who the hell are you?" I yelled, thrusting my sword forward in an attempt to frighten them. But Nico simply stepped forward, placed two fingers on the end of the blade and moved it aside.

"My name is Nico Di Angelo. I have known you since you, Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia came to save me and my sister Bianca. Bianca was killed by a giant robotic creature that fell on her. I can summon the dead and speak to them. You told me not too long ago that you love me but you cannot be with me because you would be cheating on me. You know that the love of your life, Luke Castellan, is still alive and you will not give up on finding him. I am your friend. And I am in love with you Terra Grace."

"And I am in love with you, Annabeth Chase." Butch stepped forward and tried to kiss her but she round house kicked him so hard he fell down on his rear end with a loud _thud_.

"What the HELL is going on here?" She screamed and kicked the side of the boat.

"Annabeth…calm down. Obviously they are under some kind of spell. And there is only one person I know of that likes to make people fall in love this hard."

"Ugh. Not her. Please, we really don't have time for this."

"Well maybe my father knows that we are trying to go to Hermes for help and he is sending other gods to make sure we don't get there. Perhaps there is a reason behind it, I don't know. Maybe I am completely off base."

"But why would Aphrodite wanna stop us?"

"Because she has to do what Zeus says and I think Zeus would very much want Percy to stay missing. And Ares is her boyfriend and he hates Percy more than anyone. So I can see why they might try to persuade her to help."

"What I still don't get is why. What would be so bad about finding Percy that your father would send Aphrodite to throw us a love curveball?" The boys were keeping their distance. They had huddled together and were staring admiringly at the two of us as we discussed what the hell could be going on.

"You know what? Maybe this has nothing to do with Percy. Maybe this is more about where Percy is. The gods don't want us to find the place he is lost in? I don't know, I am seriously so confused. This makes no sense. Why have, who I assume was Poseidon, throw a rogue wave at us to get us stuck here so that Aphrodite could cast a love spell on the boys? Are they testing us or what?"

"I don't know. I had a feeling that wave came from Poseidon as well. But of all the gods, why would HE not want us to find Percy?"

"We will just have to go find a god to tell us what we want to know." Annabeth and I gathered up the boys and got back on the ship. After locking them into the theater with Finding Nemo playing, I sent Annabeth to the control room while I went to the bow of the boat. I gave her the signal that I was ready and then I focused all the air around me to bend to my will. And then in one great big motion I pushed it all towards the island, sending the boat flying backwards into the water. We almost capsized but with a little burst of air at the back we steadied out. When I made it up to the control room again Annabeth looked as though she was about to cry.

"Why won't they help us find him! He has saved them on multiple occasions; he stopped the titans from taking over, why are they trying to stop us from finding him?" She burst forward and wrapped me in a hug. I patted her head and rubbed her back, knowing that she must be torn up inside for her to react this way. Annabeth rarely cried in front of people. I tried to say soothing things. "It is going to be okay." And "I am sure they have a reason, everything happens for a reason, we will find him." But with every word I said she seemed to get more upset. So I finally told her to go to her room and get some sleep, she was in no shape to be running the boat. And as soon as she left I was alone once more. I only had one thing on my mind: Why Aphrodite?


	10. We Figure Out The Curse of Love

A few hours passed before Annabeth came back up to the steering cabin. She walked in looking like death; her hair was down and messy, her eyes were red, and she was walking like a zombie. She immediately walked to the nearest chair and collapsed with her head in her hands. I kept my eyes forward. It was better to let her start the conversation if she wanted to talk. A few minutes of silence passed and then:

"Are the guys still in the theater?" I cut the engine of the boat. "What are you doing? We don't have time to stop!"

"You're coming with me." I walked over and grabbed her arm leading her all the way back to a room I had found on the second floor. I never wanted to go back into it but I felt this was an emergency. I opened the door and Annabeth immediately ripped her arm out of my grasp.

"Oh hell no!" She started to walk away and I completely understood why. I had figured out that most of the rooms on this boat where decorated to represent (at least partially) one of the 12 main gods. And this room was dedicated to none other than the creator of our most recent problem…Aphrodite. The room was huge with a giant heart shaped bed in the middle. Of course the entire room was covered with shades of pink, white, and red. Everything was either silk or satin and there were enough lights in the room to see a person clearly from every angle. In other words….it was our worst nightmare.

"Annabeth! Get your blond butt back here right now!" I pulled her back to me with a gust of wind and caught her before she stumbled backwards. "Just trust me, this will help you feel better." She still seemed incredibly reluctant but she let me lead her back to the room. I had her take a seat on the plushy pink stool in front of the vanity. I knew before I even opened the drawers that everything I needed would be inside. I pulled out a brush and proceeded to get all of the snarls out of her hair then sprayed it with a spray bottle of water and combed it out. It seemed that with each pass I made with the comb Annabeth's shoulders seemed to relax a little more and she looked less and less on edge. I pulled her hair back and put it up into a messy bun. When she opened her eyes she looked more like the Annabeth I usually see: strong, beautiful, and confident. Her eyes were no longer red and she finally smiled. She ran her hand over her hair. She seemed shocked to find out how smooth it was.

"Thank you." She stood up and hugged me. "I'll do your hair now if you want?" We both laughed. We were acting like normal teenage girls…it was weird.

"No, that's alright, we don't really have time to play dress up. But I figured you really needed it." I smiled at her and she hugged me again.

"Thanks…again." We laughed and headed back up to the cabin. "Wait, maybe we should let the boys out? The movie has probably been over for a while now…"

"Well I guess we could start a new one for them or something." We made our way to the theater and opened the door. We both immediately slapped our foreheads. "We are idiots." The huge room was completely empty. The screen was blinking from white to black signaling there was no more film on the projector. How could we be so stupid.

"Ugh! I can't believe we forgot Nico can shadow travel! DAMNIT! Where could they have gone?" Annabeth said, she looked nervous again, looking over her shoulder and fidgeting. Obviously having butch fawn over her was really freaking her out. And really making her miss Percy.

"Tell you what, you go up to the cabin, turn the boat back on, and keep going. I'll try to find them."

"What if they aren't even on the boat anymore?"

"Please, their under a spell that makes them fall in love with us…their on the boat. Trust me." And with that we went our separate ways.

O0O

An hour passed and I finally barged back into the steering cabin. Annabeth turned and the look on her face told me she knew she had been right.

"They aren't on the boat anymore. You were right. Or they are really, really good at hiding." I sighed and walked over to the huge window in front of Annabeth. The boat was so insanely made that from the steering cabin if you looked straight down you could see straight down to the very bottom deck. If this weren't a god's boat it would definitely capsize. The thing was like a mini skyscraper on water. It was full of places for the boys to hide. But I had a feeling they weren't even here anymore.

"I have been thinking and, unfortunately, I think there is only one course of action." She trailed off at the end of her sentence like she didn't want to tell me what the course of action was. But after the look I gave her she took a deep breath and continued. "We need to contact Aphrodite. Obviously she is the one who did this and we need her to take the spell off of them. We can't continue on with the boys constantly causing trouble for us." I nodded. She was completely right. I didn't like to talk to Aphrodite. I had already had a few run ins with her over the years. Like when Percy, Thalia, Zoë, Grover, Bianca and I had been on a quest to find Artemis and Annabeth. This was a few years ago and Aphrodite and her boy toy, Ares, appeared to talk to me and Percy about how our love stories are so much fun for her and she likes to make all kinds of trouble for us. Basically I hate her. She is the reason Luke and I had such a difficult time and why neither of us could forget about the other when he changed sides. Fricken love goddess. Anyway, neither of us really wanted anything to do with her but Annabeth was right. We have to talk to Aphrodite or this will never get cleared up and we are going to get ourselves killed.

"You're right. I think I saw a fountain on the deck; I have a drachma in my room. Cut the engine and I'll meet you down there." We both sighed and headed off in our separate directions.

I took my time getting to my room; I had to be cautious about Nico and Butch. For all I knew they could pop out of nowhere and do another hostage act like before. I was not in the mood to have any of that nonsense so I kept my right hand poised and ready to touch my charm bracelet and release my sword if I needed to. But, as luck would have it, they didn't attack and therefore they were still missing. I made it all the way back to the deck without a hitch to find Annabeth pacing in front of the well.

"What if we try to contact Percy again? Maybe since we are in the Sea of Monsters it will work?" She shook her head and proceeded to answer her own question. "No, never mind that makes no sense. Do you have the drachma?" I tossed it to her.

"Go ahead; it's all yours Wise Girl." She sneered at me and turned to the fountain. "I hate this." And with a flick of her finger the coin disappeared into the rainbow created by the streaming water and the shining sunlight. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Aphrodite, goddess of love." There were a few seconds where nothing happened and then the oddest thing happened. We saw the backs of our heads. "Um…I'm no expert on this…but I don't think that is supposed to happen." We both spun around and saw….

Nothing. A big fat nothing.

"She is playing with us. Ugh! Why can't the gods just not be so obnoxious for 5 minutes?" I shouted. Immediately I regretted it. Somehow I must have known she was there but not 2 seconds later the shimmering form of Aphrodite appeared before us like a cloud of glitter that exploded onto the deck. Just like the first time I had met her with Percy her face kept shifting from one person to another; all women I thought were beautiful and whom I sometimes envied. Only now I noticed that her body shifted along with the faces. I must not have noticed before because she was sitting down in a dimly lit limousine. This time I could clearly see her arms and legs growing longer, shorter, thicker, and thinner along with her waist and chest. Everything was constantly changing to the point where if you really stopped and thought about it…Aphrodite was a freaky monster. But while looking at her all you could think was how absolutely stunning she was. I couldn't believe this was Piper's mom. Piper was so…tom boyish? And here was her mother acting as if she was the queen of the world.

"Excuse me, but who did you say is obnoxious?" She said. Her voice was smooth, melodious, and wonderful to listen to; literal music to the ears.

"Terra didn't mean it like that. We thought the connection had been turned down." Annabeth quickly tried to cover for me.

"An Iris message doesn't work if you're trying to send it to someone right next to you. That is common knowledge my dears." She swept her hand through her long, short, blond, red, brunette hair and took a seat on the nearest lounge chair that lined the deck. "Ah, Elpis always has the nicest things. And isn't it just crazy how this thing stays afloat?" She said as she tilted her head back making every movement look stunning. I had just about had enough of it.

"Alright we should probably get to the point of why we wanted to Iris you in the first place." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow and waved her hand for me to continue. 'Yeah, yeah, pain in the ass…' I thought to myself before continuing. "We need you to take the curse off of the boys."

"What curse?"

"You put a love curse on them. You're the only one who really could put this powerful of a love spell onto someone. You have to take it off because we are on a quest to find Percy and we can't do that if Butch and Nico are constantly attacking us." Annabeth said, practically all in one breath.

"Alright, alright. No need to be hasty. I would be glad to help but I didn't put a curse on them. I have no idea what you ladies are talking about." She waved her hand and an ornate glass of fresh pink lemonade appeared in her hand. "I would offer you some but I like mine dirty…if you know what I mean." She winked and it made me want to vomit.

"Well then maybe this will ring a bell. A sudden rouge wave hit our boat and landed us on a desert island in the middle of nowhere. Annabeth and I split up to search part of the island and Butch and Nico took the other side. Because, for whatever reason, we thought there was a purpose to the wave. Like maybe Poseidon was trying to help us locate his son. But we were obviously wrong because next thing we know Nico and Butch are throwing themselves on us and trying to do dirty things!" I was screaming by the time I finished. Annabeth looked taken aback but Aphrodite seemed calmer than ever.

"In that case I know exactly what happened." She smiled at me. Suddenly my knees went weak. 'What the hell! This isn't supposed to happen with another girl!' I scolded myself. But I knew it was just the powerful love magic that emanated from her. She walked over to me and placed a hand on my cheek. "Take a deep breath. I don't want my favorite love story's heroine to die from a frustrated heart attack." She smiled again and I felt butterflies in my stomach. Fricken goddess of love.

"Can you tell us what really happened then if you didn't put the spell on them?" Annabeth asked. She could see how uncomfortable I was getting and was trying her best to help.

"Yes I can. That island is an experiment of mine. I had almost forgotten about it though. I created it a long time ago. A plush island full of fresh water and food would obviously attract any passing ship in need of resupplying. And so as soon as the men step foot on the island they feel the magic of love sweep over them. But alas, I created it back in the days when women were considered a curse if they were on a ship. So the men had no woman to use their love on. They would become consumed with love, lust, desire and have no means to relieve themselves. Soon love would be all they could think of until it either drove them to madness, murder, or suicide. Or till the point of starvation or shipwreck since they do nothing but long for love. Ahhh, those were the good days when I could be entertained by them for weeks at a time. Sometimes I would create illusions of women for them, just to change things up." She sighed as if remembering a very beautiful memory. Annabeth and I exchanged looks of disgust.

"That's terrible. Playing with people's lives like that!" Annabeth shouted.

"I know you think me horrible, Annabeth, but trust me when I say that those men would never have made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive anyway. I made their last days more…enjoyable."

"Think of it however you want." I said to her. "But the men we are with need to be able to function in order for our quest to continue. So will you help us or not because we are wasting time." Aphrodite looked at me like I had been a fly in her delicious lemonade.

"You are lucky, Terra Grace daughter of Zeus, for if you had been any other Halfling I would smite you where you stand."

"Then why not smite me now?"

"I have told you before, haven't I? You are my favorite tragic love story since-"

"Since Paris and Helen and the Trojan War. I know." I cut her off. I could see Annabeth moving her hand towards her blade. Obviously she thought Aphrodite was about to go berserk on me. Instead she laughed. A soft, feminine laugh but a laugh all the same.

"You remind me of myself Miss Grace. I will help you. Here," She waved her hands and two vials appeared on a small table next to us. "Make each of the boys drink one and they will be back to normal shortly after."

"Thank you." Annabeth and I said at the same time.

"I have something else for you Terra." She reached up to her hair and seamed to weave something out of it as she pulled her hand out of her hair. "This is for you. You will know when the time comes to use it." With that she began to glow. "Good luck, I am rooting for the two of you to find your men." Annabeth and I quickly turned our heads and then she was gone leaving us with two vials and a necklace woven of pure gold. There was a charm in the center of the necklace.

"What did she give you?"

"A necklace…" I handed it to Annabeth and she looked concerned.

"What would you have to use this for?" I shook my head. I had no idea. What would anyone use a necklace for? But maybe it was the charm that was important. It had to be. Otherwise it wouldn't have been just for me.

A golden lightning bolt…


	11. Annabeth's First Date

CHAPTER 11:

ANNABETH'S FIRST DATE

"So what are we supposed to do now?" I asked. Annabeth just shrugged and walked over to the two vials.

"I guess we get the guys to drink this stuff. I just don't know how we are supposed to get them to. They are trained to be smart and survive. I doubt they would just take a random vial from us and drink it." We sat together on the deck under the hot sun for quite some time discussing ways to get them to drink it. Suddenly it hit me like a falling Cyclops.

"Annabeth! I have an idea! What if we just tell them that this elixir was given to us by Aphrodite?"

"Isn't that counterproductive? We would be giving ourselves away."

"No, we wouldn't! We tell them that we realized how much we like them and that we wanted a way to stay with them forever."

"…So Aphrodite gave us an everlasting love potion?" Annabeth asked skeptically.

"Hey, they are already under a love spell. I think if we even mention that we like them a bit they will fall head over heels to get a drink of what we have. And next thing you know BAM! We have them back to normal and we can get on our way." Annabeth agreed and soon we were off searching the boat for the two wayward lovers. It took a couple hours but after a bit of coaxing, and some talk about smooches to come, the boys finally reappeared in the bowling alley. "QUICKLY, NICO! I NEED YOU TO DRINK THIS! THE POTION IS ONLY GOOD FOR A FEW HOURS, IF YOU DON'T DRINK IT IN TIME IT WILL HAVE THE OPPOSITE EFFECT AND WE WILL HATE EACH OTHER FOREVER!" I jabbed Annabeth in the ribs, motioning her to follow my example and suddenly we were both kneeling on the floor, faces in our hands, pretending to sob uncontrollably.

"Oh no, Terra, do not worry. I will drink this and we will be together forever!" Nico bent down and lifted my chin till our eyes met. His eyes were so dark that sometimes I couldn't find my way out of them. A chill went down my spine and a strange thought crossed my mind. 'What if I were with Nico? What if I just forgot the whole mission and stayed with Nico on that island, together…forever.' I pinched my leg and pulled myself together. Obviously Aphrodite's island of love spell was stronger than I thought, but I pulled myself back into character.

"You too, Butch, please! Don't you want to be with me forever?" Annabeth batted her eyelashes and wrapped her hands around his biceps, pulling him closer. It was kind of weird to see Annabeth that close to anyone but Percy. But it was also good to know that when the time called for it, she was ready to do anything.

"Ye-ye-yes, of course, Annabeth, anything for you." Butch swooned and uncapped the vial and threw the whole thing back before Nico could even open his. Immediately Butch's green eyes fluttered into the back of his head and he thudded to the ground, completely unconscious. Nico stopped trying to open his vial and turned to me.

"What is in this?"

"I told you it's a lov-"

"No, Terra. What is REALLY in this?" I began to stutter. He was throwing me off guard and I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know he would be able to pull himself out of the love spell long enough to realize anything was wrong with the situation. Lucky for me that Annabeth took up the reins.

"Nico, don't worry, it has to knock you out for the immortality to set in. Obviously it can't happen all at once while you are awake. It would be really painful." Nico turned to her and while he wasn't looking I mouthed the words "thank you" to her.

"Yeah, and where are your vials?" He asked. Obviously this kid was not going to let us off the hook so easily.

"We don't need it. All we have to do is wait until you two wake up and the first person you kiss is the one you get to spend the rest of eternity with. Aphrodite explained the whole thing to us. No need to worry. You won't be out long and we will keep a VERY close eye on you guys." I got in real close and ran my fingers through his hair. I could see the gears in his head begin to slow down. Finally he put the vial to his lips and drank. Then he too passed out on the floor.

"That was obnoxiously difficult." Annabeth said as she took off Butch's hoodie and put it under his head as a pillow. I began doing the same with Nico's black leather jacket.

"He is always difficult." I said. I stared down at the boy in front of me. Such beautiful skin and eyes, such dark hair and deep red lips…the feeling I had while looking into his eyes crept back into me. I shuddered. Suddenly I had a horrible feeling that what I felt before hadn't been the effects of the love spell.

O0O

Annabeth and I got the ship running again and heading forward through the Sea of Monsters. We sat up in the steering cabin for a few hours while the boys rested a few decks below. Annabeth had a couple maps strewn out in front of her that she thought could lead us to Mount Cylene. But she wasn't certain because the Sea of Monsters tended to change too frequently and all the maps she had found were outdated by at least a few thousand years.

While Annabeth worked on something constructive I stood at the wheel, staring into space and thinking over some things. I was concerned about the feeling I had gotten towards Nico earlier but I didn't want to tell Annabeth about it because she has been trying to get me and Nico together for quite some time. I love Nico, I do. But then again I love Luke more. Luke and I are soul mates and I am not giving up on him. I know he is still alive and nothing anyone says will change that. Nor will any random bursts of emotion that make me think I want to be with anyone else. Nico knows how I feel…I mean, I told him. He knows that when I find Luke I can't be so lovey with him anymore. He knows that…So why do I feel like shit every time I think about Luke? It shouldn't be like this. I should think about Luke and feel endless amounts of joy and love. Like I usually do. But lately, with the son of Hades around, I have been thinking less and less of the love of my life and more and more about the young boy who thinks I am the love of his. I don't know what to do. It all seems so cliché, I mean come on! There's always some random girl who isn't popular or pretty or anything special at all and then she suddenly has two very handsome guys after her. Which hasn't always been the case…Nico has grown up well. I mean VERY well, but he used to be the awkward little kid we saved and who had a crush on me. Now it has turned into a love triangle. I don't want to be that clichéd girl who sits there for the entire movie saying "I love you, but I love you too, but I don't know if I love you or you more"…IT'S RIDICULOUS! Why the hell can't my heart just listen to my head for once? I love Luke, so much. I would do anything for him….I am just, I don't know, confused or something since he has been out of my life for so long. But I will fix it, I will find him and everything will be right again. No sappy love-dramas for me.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and sighed.

O0O Annabeth's POV o0o

Terra sighed as she stood at the wheel of the ship. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but I was too focused on my maps to ask. Besides, she probably wouldn't want to talk about it, she gets stubborn like that.

Something about these maps was really beginning to confuse me, and that doesn't usually happen. I am usually very good with maps and diagrams. But these maps…I only had about eight different ones on the table in front of me but I couldn't seem to keep them in any sort of order. Every time I flipped through them they all looked different. It was almost like they were changing with the Sea of monsters…but that isn't possible right? I laid them out in front of me, covering the whole table so I could see every map at once. Then I sat back and watched. And then my jaw dropped. I could see bumps moving in the ocean. Objects that I thought were rocks or small islands seemed to come alive. I gasped as I realized what they were.

"Sea monsters!" I said aloud. Terra looked over at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Did you just say what I think you just said? Because you better not have." She pressed a button next to the wheel that turned on the auto-captain and came over to check it out. I pushed the maps over to her and her eyes grew wide as she saw the entire landscape of the Sea of Monsters shifting and altering itself. "What in the hell…"

"Yeah, apparently these maps show exactly how the Sea of Monsters looks all the time. So of course the maps would move with the changing scenery."

"Of course." Terra agreed sarcastically. She shook her head and her long dark hair fell around her shoulders. I caught a whiff of her shampoo and it reminded me of camp with Percy, Grover, and all of us all together. "Anyway, what's worse is that it…it almost looks like it is bending around us."

"Yeah I know, almost like it is putting obstacles in our way." I pointed to a row of three rocks that took turns bobbing in and out of the water as they moved closer to our ship. "This is what I was talking about. I think it is a sea serpent." Terra stood up straight and started pacing.

"Well this is just awesome. There is NO WAY we can handle that right now. The boys are still unconscious and one of us has to steer the ship. We can't have one person defending the ship alone. That would be suicide against a sea serpent. COME ON! What else are the gods going to throw at us?" She punched the wall closest to her and she immediately regretted it. It reminded me of the time Percy got so frustrated that he kicked a tree and broke his foot. I had to stifle a giggle.

"We will deal with it when it comes Terra. It still looks like we won't encounter it for at least an hour. That gives us time to wake up the guys and prepare ourselves. If these maps are even right."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared, especially when sea serpents are involved." She said and took control of the wheel again.

"I will go check on the guys then." Terra nodded and I headed out the door.

Once I was alone in the hallway tears suddenly began to flow down my cheeks. Remembering all of us together at camp and memories of Percy. They are too painful. He has been missing for so long and I just want him back. We had only been dating for less than a year really. He had finally got the courage to tell me how he felt…

O0o Annabeth's Flashback o0o

"Hey seaweed brain, did you already go to the arena today?" Percy turned and gave me that smile of his, the one that he really only gives me and I couldn't help but light up. I hated to be apart from him for too long and I knew he liked me but it was so hard to get him to admit anything at all.

"Yeah, I was sparring with Terra and Clarisse. Did you want to get some sparring in?" He asked like he wanted me to say yes, but that wasn't really why I asked.

"Oh, no. It's just that i…uh…I know you like to get some sword fighting in before dinner and all and the campfire doesn't start for a couple hours and…" He kept staring at me and it was so frustrating! How am I supposed to talk straight when he kept staring at me with those absolutely stunning blue eyes of his? Honestly. But he was blushing so I think he had an idea what I was trying to ask him.

"Did you, uh, want to go somewhere?" He asked. His hands were fiddling with his sword-pen, Riptide.

"Yes, actually. I was thinking we could take Blackjack and Eris and head into the city to have dinner in the park. Like a hotdog stand or something. And we could stop by your mom's store?" He smile just kept getting brighter and I could feel my face getting hot. I really just wanted to take my hat out of my pocket and put it on so he wouldn't see how embarrassed I was getting. He stopped fiddling and put the pen into his pocket.

"That sounds awesome actually. I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time in the city just wandering around. You know, with the war and what not. But now that it is all over I think it is a great idea. Is Terra alright with us taking Eris though?"

"Yeah, I actually asked her this morning." I blushed again. I was being so childish. I wanted to just slap myself in the face but I don't think I was in control of my body in the first place.

"So you planned this, huh?" He smirked at me. "Is it a date?" I couldn't tell if he was playing with me or if he really thought it was. But before I could stop myself I nodded. He kinda went wide-eyed for a second and then got his act together and laughed. "That is great! I have been meaning to ask you on one but I kept getting too nervous." He held out his hand and without hesitating I took it.

We walked all the way to the Pegasus stables where Blackjack and Eris, the two black Pegasi in the fields were having a lovely little chat…according to Percy. He told me they were debating the use of carrots as a treat as opposed to the use of sugar cubes. Apparently Blackjack thought sugar cubes were the only way to go but Eris kept insisting they would give him an aneurism….or something. I wasn't really listening to Percy's translation. All I could think about was how warm Percy's hand was in mine.

He realized pretty quickly that I wasn't paying attention and he gave my hand a slight squeeze. I looked up at him and smiled. "So you can lead the way because I don't know all the good spots in the city like you do." He nodded and led me over to Eris, holding his hands together to boost me up. I felt so special, and so happy. He hopped onto Blackjack with ease and then we took off. Soon we were flying over Central Park looking for an open area with as few people as possible. Eventually we found a small grassy area between some trees and touched down there.

"I'll whistle for you when we are ready." Percy told Blackjack and together he and Eris took off into the sky, seemingly playing a game of pegasi tag. "So what do you want to do first." To me this was a loaded question. I wanted to say 'anything as long as I am with you.' But I figured that was really corny so instead I said:

"It doesn't really matter." Wow….good one Annabeth….

"Alright, well I know this really good hotdog stand that's close by. It has a ton of different toppings, including chocolate sauce."

"That's disgusting."

"Don't knock it till you try it." He reached out his hand and once more I took it.

It seemed so right to be walking hand in hand with Percy Jackson through Central Park. We were only 16 but I felt like the adults who were walking all around us. Everything seemed so simple and easy after surviving a war together and nearly dying.

We spent the next couple hours walking around and talking about random things and constantly laughing. We visited Sally Jackson's candy shop and bought a bunch of blue jelly bellies and blue sour patch kids. I love that Percy and his mom and something special between them like that.

Eventually we found ourselves back in the grassy opening where we first arrived. Percy turned to me and offered me the last jelly bellie.

"…should we head back?" He asked as I took the bean from him and turned it over in my hand. I wanted to say 'hell no!' But the words just didn't want to come out.

"Well, we have had so much fun…I don't really want the day to end. Oh my god I sound so stupid." I started blushing and turned away but before I completely turned away he caught my shoulder and pulled me around…right into a kiss.

It was the most magical thing. I had kissed Percy before, but it was usually when our lives were severely in danger or out of extreme excitement. But this…kissing after spending the afternoon together on a date and holding hands the whole time. This was perfect. It seemed to end too quickly but when it did his face wasn't bright red like I thought it would be. He was just staring at me with a smirk on his face.

"Annabeth." He said. I nodded dumbly for him to go on. "I love you." And suddenly nothing else mattered but kissing him again.

From that day on we were a couple.

0o0

'And now 10 months later I can't even find him'. I thought to myself. I wiped the tears from my eyes, straightened up and headed off to wake the boys. I had more important things to do right now than cry over my own problems.


End file.
